Of Ottsel Beginnings
by san121
Summary: Ever since Erwen could remember, Sandover was a quiet village with the occasional problem here and there thanks to Jak and Daxter. Now, however, with a great threat on the horizon, she helps her friends what ever way she can to stop the incoming catastrophic event. (Was 'Give Me Your Hand, I'll Be Your Shield')
1. Beginnings without Ottsels

Jak stares up at the sky, watching the sun creep over the horizon as he waits at the dock. The water calm at this time, leaving a small opening for adventuring across the ocean.

"Jak! Erwen's coming!" a boy yells, drawing Jak's attention from the rising sun. Daxter jogs over to Jak's position, panting and gulping down air.

'You're out of shape, Dax,' Jak teases, poking his friend in the ribs.

"Oh, hardy-har-har. You're hilarious," Daxter snarks, swatting at the hand. Jak grins innocently. Daxter, for all of his short stature and buck teethed sass, was loyal and friendly, something Jak faintly remembers being surprised at when he first arrived at the village all those years ago.

"Anyway, Erwen should be out here soon," Daxter tells Jak.

'Did you wake her up?' Jak asks. Daxter stops his shifting and stares blankly at the water.

"Aw, crap," Daxter mumbles. Jak covers his smile as he silently laughs, looking toward the village. He spots a white haired girl running toward them, a blue aura around her.

'Here she comes,' Jak motions. Daxter scowls at Jak, then at Erwen as she skids to a stop in front of them, blue fading out of her eyes, leaving behind grey.

"What took so long?" Daxter demands, putting his hands on his hips. Jak rolls his eyes while Erwen snorts at Daxter's attitude.

"I'm up, I'm dressed, what more could you want?" Erwen snarks, opening her arms wide. Daxter scrunches up his nose and sticks out his tongue in response. Erwen laughs and turns to Jak with a grin.

"And hello, Jak. It's nice to see you this morning," Erwen comments pleasantly. Jak grins at Erwen while Daxter groans.

'Hello, Erwen," Jak replies with a nod.

"Can we PLEASE go?" Daxter huffs. Erwen turns back to Daxter with a grin Jak recognizes as her preparing to tease someone. She swiftly pulls Daxter into a headlock, getting a yelp from him.

"Why? Do you want some attention too?" Erwen practically purrs. Without letting Daxter answer, she starts to give him a noogie, messing up his hair even more.

"Ack! Jak, help me!" Daxter yelps, flailing underneath Erwen's arm. Jak sighs and rolls his eyes before picking Erwen up, causing her to release Daxter with a squeak. Jak then drops her into the boat before climbing in himself.

"Fine, I won't tease Dax anymore. Just… don't pick me up then drop me, "Erwen asks, pulling herself into the seat closest to the fan.

"Ha! That's what you get!" Daxter laughs, climbing into the boat. Jak huffs out a laugh and leans back, closing his eyes and relaxing. He hears Erwen start up the fan and feels the wind start to rush by. Jak smiles, excited for a new adventure.


	2. Screaming Ottsels

Jak lounges at the front of the boat, watching the changing sky. Daxter fumbles past Jak's line of sight, dropping to his knees and dry heaving over the side of the boat.

"I thought we warned you about the choppiness of the waves," Erwen teases, briefly cutting off the fan to let Daxter's stomach settle.

"You know what? How 'bout you shut-Ulp!" Daxter cuts off, dry heaving over the side again. Jak chuckle and relaxes, closing his eyes. A loud splash jolts Jak awake. He looks around, easily spotting Daxter bobbing sheepishly beside the boat. Jak sighs and shakes his head while Erwen curls into a ball, giggling beside the fan. Jak stands up and reaches out to Daxter. Once Daxter grabs Jak's hand, Jak pulls Daxter back on board. Jak falls back and lands on his bottom, while Daxter flops onto the floor like a fish. Erwen cackles while Jak snickers at their friend.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up," Daxter mutters, tapping the side of head, trying to get the water out of his ears. Erwen laughs so hard she briefly loses her balance, causing her to yelp. Jak and Daxter laughs while she regains her balance.

"Okay, I deserved that," Erwen admits, hand on her chest. The boys laugh as she restarts the fan and steers the boat to the dock at Misty Island.

"Well, we're here," Erwen announces, shutting off the fan. The boys sober quickly, looking at the dark island. Jak climbs out of the boat, followed closely by Daxter and Erwen.

"Hey! Uh, Jak?" Daxter starts, hiding behind a skull before hurrying to catch up with Jak and Erwen, "Old Green Stuff told us not to come here."

"Well, we just need to be careful," Erwen offers, following Jak to a cliff. Jak assess the cliff before turning to Erwen.

'Give me a boost?' Jak asks. Erwen sighs and rolls her eyes, but still puts her back against the cliff and laces her fingers together.

"On 3, now," Erwen instructs, red creeping into her grey eyes. Jak took two steps back.

"1…2…3!" Erwen exclaims. Jak launches himself at Erwen, planting his feet into Erwen's hands. With a heft from Erwen, Jak sails up to cliff, landing near the top. Crawling the rest of the way up, Jak pauses to look at the clearing in front of him. Jak jumps when Daxter lands next to him with a huff. Jak shushes Daxter as Erwen pulls herself up beside them. The trio look out to the arena-like area, full of soldier lurkers and bone armor lurkers. Suddenly, two people appear in front of the lurkers with a vaguely purple cloud.

"Continue your search for artifact and eco. The locals possess Precursor items. You know what to do," the man rasps.

"Deal harshly with anybody who strays from the village. We will attack it in due time," the woman purrs. The trio share a look of worry before crawling back down the cliff, Daxter sliding a little.

The three teens enter an area with dark purple goo deep in a well at the center of the room. Jak and Erwen step over a precursor artifact that is laying on the ground, Jak looking around the area eagerly. A loud thud from behind causes Jak to turn and see Daxter on the ground, the artifact under his foot. Jak and Erwen snicker as Daxter glares at them, then the artifact in frustration.

"Stupid Precursor junk," Daxter grumbles, picking up the device and wandering over to Jak and Erwen as they stand by the well. Daxter peeks over the edge and crinkles his nose in disgust.

"Yeesh! What is that dark ooze? It sure don't look friendly!" Daxter exclaims, getting a shrug from both of his friends. Daxter huffs and pulls away from the well, blowing off the artifact and rubs at the remaining dirt on it.

"Old Green Stuff yaps on about the Precursors that built this place all the time. 'Where did they go? Why did they build this crap?'" Daxter mocks, much to his friends' amusement. He then tosses the artifact into the air, right at Jak, causing him to catch the artifact before it hit the ground. Instantly, the artifact lights up in Jak's hand, startling both Jak and Erwen. Jak shots a grin at Erwen as she hesitantly pokes the artifact out of curiosity.

"Now, I like precursor orbs and powercells as much as the next guy. But if you ask me, they must've been real losers," Daxter rambles, turning back to his friends, and finally seeing the glowing artifact, "Whoa, how'd you do that?" Jak shrugs while Erwen eyes the artifact with distrust. A loud thud attracts the trio's attention to a bone armor lurker at the entrance. Erwen moves protectively in front of the boys, while Daxter hides behind Jak and whines, "Guys, I think we're in trouble!" Jak looks at the artifact in his hands before he looks up in determination. Erwen glances back at him with red eyes, frowning.

"Jak, what are you doing?" Erwen asks. Jak ignores her question to throw the artifact at the lurker. The artifact explodes as soon as it hits the lurker, the blast knocking Jak and Erwen back. Erwen lands on her back with a huff while Jak falls into Daxter, pushing Daxter back into the well behind them. Jak looks over at Erwen, horrified and worried about Daxter. The two scramble over to the pit and look over the edge for their friend. Seconds later, an orange rat-like thing is launched out of the pool, landing near them. Jak glances at Erwen in confusion, getting a shrug in response, before crawling closer to the thing. Said thing abruptly sits up and shouts, "Man that stung!" It then turns to them with a frown.

"I told you we shouldn't have come here, and you listened-," the thing cuts itself off when it notices the looks of shock and confusion on the teens' faces.

"Whaaaaaaaat?" it drawls, before noticing its hand. It blinks, wiggles its fingers, before letting out a piercing scream, causing Jak and Erwen to cover their ears.

"Okay, okay. I'm fine, I'm fine," the orange thing insists, attempting to calm down. It notices its feet and tail before letting out another wail and leaping on to Jak, attempting to shake the teen with his own shirt. Jak looks at Erwen.

'I think this is Daxter.' Erwen lets out a snort and replies, "Ya think?"

The trio cautiously looks into Samos' hut, hoping that they weren't coming at a bad time, as they were oft to. Daxter took another step to get a better view of the inside room when the wood creaks under his weight. Jak and Erwen both flinch as Samos spins around from his meditative position and spots them, scowling.

"What in green tarnation do you three want?" the sage snaps.

"We-we-we was- they was- I-I was!" Daxter starts.

"DON'T TELL ME!" the sage roars, cutting Daxter off in the middle of his sentence as Samos drops himself to the floor, landing on his feet with a thud, "Instead of heeding my wisdom, the three of you went mucking around in the only place I told you not to go, Misty Island."

"That's right! And-"

"And, Daxter," Samos interrupts again, leaning towards Daxter, "you finally took a much needed bath, but in a bathtub filled with Dark Eco."

"LOOK OLD MAN, ARE YOU GONNA KEEP YAPPIN' OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP ME OUT OF THIS MESS?" Daxter yells.

"I'm gonna keep yappin', because in my professional opinion, the change is an improvement. And besides," Samos pauses, seeming to contemplate his next words, "I couldn't help you even if I wanted to."

"WHAAAAAAT?!" Jak covers his ears while Erwen flinches beside him. Samos frowns and continues.

"There's only one person who has studied Dark Eco long enough to have a chance at returning you to your previous form; Gol Acheron, the Sage. But he lives far to the North. Far, far to the North. Nobody has spoken to him in ages. I would teleport you there, but I can't do that either. None of the three sages that maintain the other teleporter gates have seen fit to turn their ends on for quite a while!" Samos stops, thinking of other routes, causing his frown to grow deeper, "The only other way North is by foot through the Fire Canyon. But its volcanic soil is hot enough to melt precursor metal; you can't just walk through it."

"But you could fly over it, if you had a zoomer equipped with a heat shield," a new voice joins in. Everyone in the room turns as Keira, Samos' daughter, leans against the door frame. Keira pushes off the frame and enters the room, exchanging a high-five with Erwen. Keira continues, "I just happen to be working on such a thing at this very moment. All I would need is twenty powercells to give it enough energy to withstand the canyon's heat; isn't that right Daddy?"

"Yes…Keira, that might work. But where is a girl, a boy, and a half," Jak and Erwen flinch when Samos' staff connects with Daxter's head, getting an annoyed growl from the ottsel, "going to get twenty powercells?"

"From the villagers!" Keira exclaims, "Most of them have a powercell or two stashed away somewhere. And even if they aren't willing to just give them away, greasing their palms with a few precursor orbs should do the trick. And I bet there are even more of them out in the wilds just waiting for some brave adventurer to find." Keira leans toward Jak and flutters her eyelashes at the blond, causing him to grin despite the heat he feels in his cheeks.

"Well, we've got the brave adventurer at least!" Daxter said, acting as though Keira was referring to him and not Jak. Jak notices Erwen rolling her eyes good naturedly, smiling the entire time.

"Brave adventurer? You two couldn't find your way out of the village without training!" Samos growls, pointing at Jak and Daxter. Jak, Daxter, and Keira all send Erwen confused looks as she flinches. Samos makes sure that he has the boys' attention and continues, "Before you do anything else, you'd better go through the warp gate and get some practice on Geyser Rock."

"Uh, we won't find any more of that dark, gooey eco stuff will we? 'Cause I'd hate to fall in again and turn into you!" Daxter yells, getting a snort of laughter from Jak and Erwen.

"Get in there! Before I turn you both into ferns!" the Green Sage snarls back. Jak turns to Erwen, asking, 'Will you be alright here?' At Erwen's nod, Jak shoots her a smile and jumps through the warp gate. Landing on the other side, Jak looks around the field as Daxter falls out behind him.

"Ugh, that wasn't fun," Daxter complains, crawling up to Jak's shoulder. Jak grins at Daxter and stretches his arms above his head.

'Let's get this started,' Jak motions excitedly.


	3. The Ottsel and the Geyser

Jak jogs up to some chest as Keira talks over the communicator, smashing them open for the green eco clusters inside. Continuing through the area, he jumps up some stairs, collecting precursor orbs with Daxter commenting in his ear.

"Wheee," Daxter snarks as Jak spin kicks a dummy. Jumping over a small pit, Jak collects a powercell, and jumps over the second pit to pause at the red box. With a shrug, Jak breaks open the box and picks up the robotic-looking fly.

"Hey! You found one of my scout flies! I sent seven of them to each area to look for powercells, but the lurkers must have captured them all," Kiera calls over the communicator. Jak puts it in his bag while Daxter lets out a 'huh,' noise.

'We might find a powercell with a scout fly,' Jak motions.

"That makes sense," Daxter admits as Jak sets off to release all of the scout flies. In the last box, Jak finds a powercell with the scout fly. Collecting the powercell, Jak then drops to a beach area with a yelp. Daxter cackles on Jak's shoulder while Jak feels his face heat up as he collects the precursor orbs. Jak stops and looks at a large cluster of what looked like blue eco.

"What is that?" Daxter asks. Abruptly, the communicator springs to life with Samos explaining, "That's blue eco, which contains the energy of motion. Blue eco allows you to run faster, break boxes, and even activate some Precursor artifacts when you get near to them." Jak glances at Daxter in surprise while Daxter just stares at the now quiet communicator.

"How'd he do that?" Daxter ponders. Jak shrugs and jumps around a mountain, collecting precursor orbs along the way. Arriving at the top of the mountain, Jak spots a door with a blue bolt overhead.

"This is a precursor door. It can only be opened by approaching the door while channeling blue eco through your body," Samos explains over the communicator, startling Jak and Daxter again.

"Seriously, how'd he DO that?" Daxter whines as Jak jogs toward an eco vent that releases blue eco. Charging up on blue eco, Jak runs over to the door, opening the door and grabbing the powercell on the other side. Jumping down into the water below, Jak swims over to the pontoons to collect the precursor orbs before jumping onto dry land. Jumping up the precursor platforms, he collects more precursor orbs while running past the small clusters of green eco. He jumps across another pit, onto more precursor platforms and collects the last of the precursor orbs. Jumping across the natural gap between the tall platforms, Jak collects the final powercell as well before charging up on blue eco and taking a now moving platform down to the gate. Reactivating the warp gate, Jak jumps through first, landing on his feet in Samos' hut. Daxter leaps in afterwards, shooting out of the gate, causing Jak to dodge his friend. Once Daxter skids to a halt, he glares back at Jak who shrugs sheepishly.

"Good training, boys. But that's nothing compared to the challenges that lie ahead," Samos explains. Daxter scoffs at Samos' warning.

"Aaaah, they're noooo problem. We've got the moves, eh Jak? We'd love to stay and chat, Big Green, but we're uh, itching to get on with our adventure," Daxter brags, encouraging a silent laugh from Jak.

"Fine, fine. "Adventure" away then," Samos snarks back, "And while you're out "adventuring", make sure Erwen cleans out my green eco collectors. Now… all of you… GET OUT OF HERE!" Samos yells, scaring Jak and Daxter out of Samos' hut. Jak lands outside of Samos' hut, glancing at where Keira is working on the zoomer. She looks up briefly to wave and beam at him before returning to her work. Jak grins back at Keira and heads to the bridge.

"Let's go find Erwen. C'mon! Move faster," Daxter whines impatiently. Jak rolls his eyes and jogs into the village, spotting Erwen's white hair. Jak jogs up behind her as Daxter calls out, "Hey! Erwen!" Erwen turns and yelps as Jak comes face to neck with her. She stumbles back and lands on her bottom, making the boys laugh uproariously.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," Erwen growls, frowning. Jak stops laughing and looks her over, concerned, while Daxter grins from his perch on Jak's shoulder.

'I'm sorry.'

"That was hilarious!"

'You're not hurt, right?'

"You would've laughed too!"

'I didn't mean to upset you.'

"You should have seen your face!" Erwen looks between the two before saying, "You two are giving me mixed signals. C'mon," she stands up and brushes herself off, "I still need to see if the sculptor is offering powercells."

"Who else offered powercells?" Daxter asked, leaning against Jak's head.

"Well, the mayor wants us to fix the Eco beam and give him 90 precursor orbs for two powercells. Aunty wants us to help her get a Flut-Flut egg off a cliff for a powercell. I've already got a powercell from the farmer. Oh, and your uncle, Jak, wants 90 precursor orbs for a powercell. Also, thank you, Daxter."

"What'd they say I do this time?" Daxter demands, pounting. Erwen snorts, "Apparently, you took 90 precursor orbs from Jak's uncle." Daxter throw his hands in the air and rolls his eyes, making his friends laugh. The trio arrives at the sculptor's hut, Erwen and Jak grabbing any precursor orbs that show up along the way while breaking all seven scout fly boxes, finding a powercell inside the last crate with the scout fly. Arriving at the sculptor's hut, Erwen smooths her hair down and straightens her clothes, to Jak's confusion, before gently knocking on the side of the doorway. The sculptor turned to the trio as they enter, muttering, "Hey." When he sees Daxter, the man perks up, exclaiming, "Little furry dude!" He pauses, carefully eyeing Daxter before slumping over, "Aww… For a moment, I thought you were my Muse."

"Oh no! Do you think she's okay?" Erwen asks, only for the sculptor to shrug and look at the ground. Daxter clears his throat, gaining the sculptors attention.

"Your what?" Daxter demands.

"Haven't you ever seen a Muse before? It's a little glowin' squirrel about your size, full of spunk, and crazy as a lark!" the older teen describes, moving toward Erwen with his motioning and making the girl giggle. Jak rolls his eyes at the exchange while Daxter let out a small exclamation.

"Oh, I get it!" Daxter says before pointing at Jak and mock whispering, "Like a sidekick." Jak scowls up at his friend, sending him a mock glare.

"As a matter of fact, without my Muse, I just can't sculpt. But with her around, I see beauty in everything, you know?" The sculptor sighs, leaning against the large rock. He slowly slides to the floor, muttering, "Right now I couldn't chisel my way out of a box." He stands back up and looks out the window.

"I think she ran away to that Misty Island. Oh, I just hope she's alright." He pauses, as if he realized something before turning to them and saying earnestly, "It's worth a powercell if you bring her back to me." Daxter's head jerks toward the sculptor, twitching before yelling, "Wait a minute! We are NOT going back to Misty Island!" After a moment, Daxter looks at his friends and asks, "Are we?" Jak rolls his eyes at Daxter's antics as Erwen reassures the sculptor, "We'll try to get your Muse." The sculptor grins at Erwen, which causes the girl to blush and look up at him through her eyelashes, making him blush. Jak huffs impatiently, as the older teens continues to look at each other, blushing, when Daxter rolling his eyes.

"Can we leave?" The ottsel snaps, startling all three of the teens.

"Oh! Um, right. See you later then," Erwen offers with a shy smile. The sculptor nods, turning back to the giant rock in front of him. Jak throws his hands up into the air, in a 'finally' motion, getting a punch in the arm from Erwen.

"Oh, stop. You don't see me get impatient when you flirt with Keira," Erwen sighs. Jak huffs defensively, 'I don't flirt with Keira.'

"Uh, sorry Jak, but Erwen's right on this one," Daxter cuts in as they head back toward the farm, to the tiny beach in front of the farm. Jak looks around the small beach with a frown that changes to a curious look as the trio contemplates on where they should go next, when he spots a statue on the side of a cliff with two powercells. Tapping Erwen on the shoulder, Jak motions toward the large statue.

'Up there!' He motions, grinning as Erwen spins to look at what he is pointing at.

"Up there?" Erwen asks, both she and Daxter shading their eyes to get a look at what Jak spotted. When she spots the thing, Erwen lets out a low whistle, "That's a precursor oracle! Samos mentioned that those statutes have powercells in them."

"Wait, really?" Daxter asks, as Jak shoots her a confused look. Erwen frowns at them, asking, "Weren't you guys paying attention when Samos explained some of the precursor architecture?" As both boys shake their heads, Erwen sighs and begin to climb up the rock formation, unlocking a small precursor vault along the way with blue eco. The trio makes their way over to the statue, Daxter groaning, "Yesh! I hope they weren't as UGLY in person." Erwen sighs and shoots the ottsel a deadpan look.

"Do you think anything can look like that?" she asks. Daxter hums, as if actually contemplating it while Jak rolls his eyes and continues to travel to the statue. Walking forward, Erwen looks of a way to get the powercells out of the eyes while Jak tries to keep his balance on the wobbling bridge. When he takes a step onto solid land, the oracle speaks, scaring Erwen from her perch on the oracle's nose.

"Who awakens the oracle? Wait… One of you has the light within. From before time, I have watched and waited for the true hero to return. Present to me 120 precursor orbs for each powercell I contain." After which, the statue goes silent again. Jak stares at the oracle, confused at the fact it seemed to address him.

"You okay there?" Daxter asks, only for Erwen to groan in pain from her spot on the ground. Daxter winces in sympathy before climbing back onto Jak's shoulder and tugging his hair. Jak winces and glares at Daxter, getting a look in return.

"Erwen sorta, kinda, maybe, oh, I don't know, FELL FROM ON TOP OF THE STATUE!" Daxter yells into Jak's ear, startling Jak enough to look at Erwen who is still laying on the ground. Jak hurries over to Erwen in concern, only for her to smack him in the nose with her head as she rises from the ground. Both teens fall to the ground, Erwen holding her head while Jak holds his nose, as Daxter cackles in the background.

"I think that may have been a bad idea," Erwen hisses, her hand firmly on her forehead. Jak lets out a groan of agreement, moving his hand away from his nose to check for bleeding. Daxter continues to laugh as the two teens slowly pull themselves up from the ground. Erwen eventually rolls her eyes and picks Daxter up, getting a yelp of protest for her effort.

"So, what did the oracle want?" she asks, Daxter grumbling on her shoulder. Jak gives her a sheepish smile and told her, '120 precursor orbs.' Erwen chokes out, "120?! What does that thing think we are? Made from precursor orbs?" At Jak's shrug, Erwen groans again.

"I swear, someone or something is going to ask for my soul one day, and then where would we be?" Erwen sighs.

'Dax and I would be getting into trouble without someone to pull us out while you would be in a coma?' Jak offers. Erwen and Daxter looked at the blond in twin looks of horror and intrigue.

"Why would you even-? Never mind, I don't want to know," Erwen sighs, rummaging through her bag. Counting only 39 in her bag, Erwen looks up at Jak, only for him to motion that he only had 50, "Dang it." Erwen lets out a huff.

"We don't even have enough to trade with your uncle, Jak." Erwen groans, rubbing at her face with the heels of her hands as Daxter flees to Jak's shoulder. Daxter awkwardly clears his throat, getting Jak and Erwen's attention.

"I may have some orbs buried near the waterfall at the entrance of the Forbidden Jungle," Daxter confesses. A long pause followed his confession, which ends by Daxter snapping, "Can we just get them?"

"Oh! Right! Sorry," Erwen mutters, jumping into the water below. Jak sends Daxter a disappointed look that he responds to with a defensive, "What?!" Jak huffs and jumps into the water as well swimming after Erwen as she heads to the waterfall between the Village and the Jungle. Once he arrives, Erwen starts to tap the ground for tightly packed sand. Jak glares at Daxter, causing him to swallow nervously and jump down from Jak's shoulder to help Erwen find the stash. Once they uncover the orbs, Erwen lets out a low whistle.

"I don't know if I should be thankful or disappointed," Erwen says as she stares at the eleven precursor orbs in her hands.

"Thankful. Be very, very thankful," Daxter insists, Jak sending him disappointed looks. Erwen looks up in time to see one of Jak's looks and winces.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be the thankful one. I think Jak can be disappointed enough for the both of us," Erwen agrees, putting the orbs into her bag. Rising up, she makes grabby hands at Jak, much to the boys' confusion.

"Uh… Why ya' makin' the grabby hands?" Daxter asks. Erwen gives them a look, snapping, "I thought you guys knew the plan."

'Erwen… You didn't tell us anything,' Jak deadpans. Erwen turns a light pink color and mutters, "oh…" Clearing her throat, Erwen explains, "You boys are going to head into the jungle and fix the eco beam, find the eco switch, and find the fisherman to see if we can borrow his speed boat. I'll go trade these with Jak's uncle and then go clear out the beach."

"Hey! This sounds unfair!" Daxter whines, Jak rolls his eyes and motions, 'You do remember that she has to clean out the green eco collectors for Samos, right?' Daxter let out a noise of understanding, while Erwen winces and asks, "He told you?" At the twin nods, she winces again before straightening herself and nodding at them.

"See you boys later," She calls, heading back to the village. Daxter lets out a little whimper as Jak rises and heads for the jungle.

"Do we really have to do this, Jak?" Daxter whines. Jak only gives him a broad smile before heading into the jungle.


	4. Green Wild, Blue Eco, Orange Sass

This chapter goes out to the kind Eragonfan33! Thank you for all your support so far!

* * *

The dense forest was over run with snakes and frogs and piranhas, just like Samos always warned them about. Jak punched a snake straight in the nose and moved on a quickly as he could, dodging large wooden logs and any animals that wanted to kill him.

"Jeez! How does Erwen train here?" Daxter asked aloud as they picked up a scout fly and stared down at a frog that was still attempting to leap up at them to attack. Jak shrugged and jumped over the frog, to the rocks in the river, ignoring the piranhas that nipped at his feet. Jumping to the other side of the river, he headed toward the temple, collecting all the precursor orbs on the way only to stop at a door.

"I think we need some of that zappy blue eco stuff," Daxter offered. Jak let out a hum, looking around the area for blue eco. He glanced at a machine only to stop and look back at it. There was a beam of eco being maneuvered to run the machine with the help of a large mirror, redirecting the light blue energy into a switch. Cocking his head to the side, Jak frowned.

'That thing shouldn't be here,' he motioned. Daxter looked at the machine and let out a snort.

"You're telling me, buddy," Daxter agreed, leaning against the blond's head. Jak jumped down, over an overly excited frog and up the machine. Once up, Jak hops from rotating disk to rotating disk, collecting precursor orbs along the way, before stopping at the switch. Putting his hands on his hips and imitating Erwen, Jak paused to think about his next move.

'If I break the mirror and run over to the door, that will stop this machine and we'll get into the temple,' Jak motioned. Daxter let out his own hum and said, "But what if ya' get hit by a frog or somethin'? You could run out of eco, and then we'd never know what was behind that door." Jak huffed and eyed the distance from the beam to the door before grinning.

"Yeah, I think we should risk it too," Daxter agreed with a grin as Jak broke the mirror and lept off the machine, rushing to the door and barely making it to unlock the precursor door. Entering the small room, the duo stare at the single powercell in the center of said room.

'Kind of glad we got here,' Jak motioned, grabbing the powercell and letting Daxter dunk it into his bag.

"You and me both, pal. You and me both."

After the little debacle with the door, Jak ran around outside, collecting all of the precursor orbs and scout flies he could grab, while Daxter gave him a running commentary, especially after Jak missed a jump and fell into the river.

"Hey! Look, it's the fisherman! Erwen said we need to get permission to use the speed boat!" Daxter exclaimed, smacking Jak on the back of his head as they almost past by the river the fisherman was at. Jak scowled but still walked over to the man with his basket. Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and looked into the basket.

"What do ya' have in the basket?" The ottsel asked, standing on his tip toes to peer over the edge.

"Nothin' ta talk about. Them monsters patrollin' the ocean took a bite outta me fishin' rig and now their gobblin' up me catch!" The fisherman growled, leaning down to be at Daxter's level before continuing, "No matter what I try, I can't seem to catch a single fish in this river." Daxter gagged and waved his hand in front of his face as the fisherman drew back.

"Woo! Maybe... it's your breath," Daxter offered. The fishman ignored the ottsel in favor of speaking with Jak.

"Ya think ya can do better? Try scooping out river fish with a tiny net!" The fisherman snapped. Suddenly, the plump man smirked as he offered, "I'll give ya a powercell if you catch 200 lbs o' dem critters! And I'll let you and shrimp here," here the fisherman pats Daxter on the head, "use my speed boat to get to Misty Island. Ya's want to try the challenge?" Jak scrunches up his nose in thought before smiling and nodding, getting a pleased laugh from the fisherman. Picking up the net, Jak laid stomach-down on the peer, watching the water carefully as fish swam toward him. Slowly, Jak caught the fish and avoided the eels, catching every five pound fish that came within distance. Eventually, the basket was filled with 200 lbs of fish.

"Ya did it! Ya got 200 lbs of fish! Not bad for a couple of landlubbers," the fisherman crowed. Jak shot him a smirk while Daxter leaned against Jak's head.

"Here's the powercell I promised, and you can use my boat at the village dock whenever you like," the plump man said, handing Jak the powercell. The blond grinned in thanks while Daxter shoved the powercell into Jak's bag. From there, the duo climbed back up to where the temple stood and managed to get inside the outer sanctuary.

'Looks like we have to climb,' Jak motioned, shading his eyes from the sun as he looked up. Daxter rubbed his chin in faux thought.

"Well, we could turn around and leave, making it impossible for ME TO TURN BACK! But then again, it's your choice," Daxter finished with a shrug. Jak rubbed at his ear and glared at Daxter before rolling his eyes and jumping on a trampoline to the right. Running along the outer wall, he collected the precursor orbs and the sixth scout fly, stopping to catch his breath after picking up the scout fly.

"Whoa!" Daxter exclaimed, getting Jak's attention. The blond looked out and his breath caught at the view in front of him. The village resting just outside of the trees range, looking peaceful and unburdened, the beach just beyond giving way to an unending blue ocean bleeding into a soft blue sky. The image was so serene and lovely that Jak wanted to smack Daxter when the ottsel said, "This would be a great place to watch Keira and Erwen bathe! All we need are your uncle's binoculars and we'd have a great view!" Instead, the blond rolled his eyes and re-entered the temple, getting blue eco and jumping on to the lift, powering it up for use. Hopping on to the second level, Jak channeled another cluster of blue eco and jumped on to the second lift. Looking up, Jak's eyebrows shot up as he spots another lift, currently lowering to meet with the lift he was currently on.

'Time to change lifts,' Jak motioned to Daxter, the ottsel clinging to the blond's shoulder nervously as he hopped to the other lift. Riding it up, Jak rushed over to the blue eco vent and powered up, preparing to run to a jump pad only to stop short as a scout fly and a powercell floated toward him.

"Whoa! Do you think it's always the last scout fly?" Daxter asked, shoving the powercell into Jak's backpack as the blond sprinted to the jump pad. Jak only spared a moment to shake his head before crouching on the pad, forcing the eco to propel him up another level. A lurker jumped and turned at Jak when he landed on the solid surface, however, it was too late to attack as Jak quickly beat it and ran to the trampoline. Jumping onto the next level, he jumped on a lift, energizing the series of lifts before him. From lift to lift to lift, Jak rose up to the top of the temple, where another powercell sat.

"Huh. Didn't know that powercells could just be sittin' there," Daxter mused as he shoved the powercell into Jak's bag, knocking the blond off balance with a particularly hard shove in. Jak shot the ottsel a look only to gain a sheepish smile, before rolling his eyes and hitting the switch in the center of the platform. The ground gave a lurch, knocking Jak onto his bottom, before smoothly gliding down to the inside of the temple.

"Cool! It's all… echo-y!" Daxter exclaimed, his voice reverberating back in a slight delay. Jak rolled his eyes again before jumping up to the open tunnel, noting the jump pad right at the entrance of the tunnel. Following the hallway, Jak collected all of the precursor orbs along the way before standing before a large structure that seemed slightly open. The blond cocked his head to the side and frowned, before spotting the powercel perched on top. Grinning, Jak ran up the ramp and hopped on to the structure, grabbing the powercell along the way. As he landed, the top part of the structure dropped and a capped blue eco vent on the side of the room opened.

"Wow! Did you see that? Blue eco vents have been activated all over the world! I knew there was a way to turn them on! There must be a way to activate the other eco vents," Keira said over the communicator. Jak grinned and handed Daxter the powercell, waiting for the ottsel to put it in his backpack before offering his hand for a highfive.

"Oh yeah! We rule!" Daxter exclaimed, slapping his palm to Jak's. The channeler jumped down onto the blue eco vent and raced to the door, the precursor orbs entering his bag as he passed. After running through another door, Jak found himself back in the center room. Skidding to a halt, Jak briefly jumped back into the first hall and jumped onto the jump pad, launching himself up and collecting more precursor orbs. Once he landed, he paused and looked at his shoulder, where Daxter suddenly wasn't. Panicked, Jak looked around, only spotting a small orange spot of color when he looked up.

"Heeeelllllppppp!" Jak faintly heard as the blond stared up at Daxter. Running out of the hall to get another burst of blue eco, Jak jumped back onto the jump pad and launched himself up again, grabbing Daxter on the way down.

"Ugh! Note to self: NEVER let go of Jak's shoulder," the ottsel muttered, climbing back onto his perch. The blond allowed himself to chuckle as he used the last of the blue eco to open the only hall they hadn't been through. Jumping over a rotating platform and onto yet another jump pad, Jak collected more precursor orbs before continuing down the hallway, Daxter clinging to his shoulder. A roar interrupted the silence of the temple as they spot the Dark Eco Plant, a massive venus flytrap like monster.

"Yipe! I want out of here!" Daxter shouted, clinging to Jak as the blond dodged the head and the small plant creatures that crawled from underneath the plant. After Jak hit the head of the plant three times, the plant wobbled before collapsing, the creatures disintigrating into mulch.

"HA! Serves you right!" Daxter exclaimed while Jak picked up the powercell, the ottsel hopping on the monster's head. A precursor orb popped out of it's mouth, giving the ottsel a moment of pause.

"Huh," he said, turning to Jak, "Look at that." The blond nodded and picked up the orbs that escaped the monster's mouth while Daxter jumped on his head. After five orbs, no more came out. Jak motioned for Daxter to stop jumping as he put the orbs in his bag, not noticing Daxter hop repeatedly on the head before finally jumping back onto Jak's shoulder. Jak walked over to the vent, getting another charge of blue eco before running to the jump pad and evacuating the temple, collecting the remaining precursor orbs in the area.

"Now all we have to do is line up the eco beams!" Daxter reminded Jak, the blond nodding and jogging back to the first tower.

Returning to the village, Jak and Daxter headed straight to the mayor's house. The mayor looked over at them and grinned, Oh, what a wonderful sight! I thank you! And the entire village will thank me." The mayor cleared his throat and shot Jak a grin.

"Ahh, boys, you have restored power to the village and guaranteed my re-election. And for that my boy, you've earned a powercell." The blond accepted the powercell, while Daxter piped up with, "You said you needed orbs for your re-election mack-whats-it?"

"Why, yes!" The mayor exclaimed, "So, you wish to make a contribution? A sizable one I hope?" Jak nodded and handed over 90 precursor orbs, getting a jump from the mayor, who stuttered out, "Yes, this is a sizable contribution. Why, I just hope this powercell adequately represents my gratitude." He handed Jak another powercell and wandered over to another side of his hut.

'Now what?' Jak motioned, putting the powercell into his bag.

"How about we go check on Erwen? And see if there's anything fun to do at the beach," Daxter offered. Jak grinned and rushed toward Sentinel Beach, Daxter shouting all the way.


	5. The Flut-Flut and Mom-Daxter

Hello everyone! I would like to know if you guys would like me to shorten the chapters or keep them the same length. Also, my poll is still up and will remain up until I start Jak II, giving you guys quite a bit of time with how long most of these chapters are. So, I hope you continue to enjoy reading the story. Please review if you like it, or don't like it, or just want to type something. (Shameless asking is shameless)

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Arriving at the beach, the duo see no lurkers, a sulking pelican, cleared eco vents and precursor orbs all over the white sand.

"Look at those! More orbs!" Daxter cheered. Jak grinned and started running toward them only to skid to a stop and scramble back as a bomb bag fell right in front of him. Jumping back, Jak avoided the explosion and looked up at the tower that the bag came from. At first, there didn't appear to be anything or anyone up there, then a lurker fell from the tower after which a cannon fired more bomb bags at steel boxes on platforms near the tower, cracking them open and releasing the precursor orbs inside. Another pause before a white streak leapt off the tower and jumped onto the platform farthest from the beach, charged with blue eco.

"Hey! It's Erwen!" Daxter cried, Jak grinning as he shaded his eyes to watch his friend collect more orbs. Erwen backed up and jumped onto the next platform, getting those orbs as well.

"WAY TO GO ERWEN!" Daxter yelled, right in Jak's ear. While the blond glared at his friend, Erwen's head snapped to where they were. She waved and backed up again, before leaping off the platform, diving into the water smoothly. She swam over to the boys, climbing onto the beach and ringing out her shirt with a grin.

"Hey, guys! Way to go with the eco!" Erwen called, walking over to the boys. Jak and Daxter nodded absentmindedly, staring at the clinging material on Erwen's body. The white haired girl raised an eyebrow, before looking down at her sopping wet clothes.

"Oh Precursors, really?" Erwen snapped, throwing her hands into the air and smacked both Jak and Daxter on their heads. The boys winced and shot her a glare, only for Erwen to already be walking away.

"I've collected most of the powercells in this area and all of the scout flie and precursor orbs," Erwen explained, as Jak jogged to catch up to her, still pouting. Erwen rolled her eyes, turning to face her blond friend.

"Oh, stop being a baby. I didn't hit you that hard," Erwen brushed off, not noticing Jak's pout turn into a grin before she was scooped up and tossed back into the water, letting out a scream of "JAK!"

"Nice!" Daxter cackled, highfiving Jak as the blond quietly laughed. Their laughter died off as Erwen did not surface. Then, panic started to set in as time ticked on. Jak rushed over to the water's edge and peered in, only for a hand to reach out of the water and pull him in, Daxter leaping off with a cry of, "Abandon ship!" Both teens breached the surface of the water, Erwen with a smug smirk while Jak gave her another glare.

"You should have seen that coming," Erwen cooed, putting her hands on either side of his face and smushing it lightly. Jak rolled his eyes and swatted at Erwen, making her laugh and let go. The two climb back onto the sand, drenched while Daxter howled with laughter.

"Wow, Jak! You look great!" Daxter teased, climbing back on to the blond's shoulder. Jak shot him a glare before shaking out his hair, spraying the ottsel with water, getting a yelp in surprise.

"Come on, boys! Auntie is waiting for us to push down that Flut-Flut egg!" Erwen called, already hopping up the cliff to where her aunt was.

'We're coming!' Jak motioned, hopping up to join her. Together, the trio travel to meet with Erwen's aunt.

"Oh, there you are, Erwen! Hello boys!," the Birdwatcher chirped, waving at the teens. Erwen waved back enthusiastically while Jak just raised his hand and smiled at the small woman.

"Hey, Jak, mind pushing the egg off? I need to help auntie with the hay," Erwen asked. Jak raised an eyebrow and glanced at Daxter before the two did a bit of a show of think and contemplating her question.

"Weeeellllll…" Daxter trailed off, sharing a look with Jak. Erwen clasped her hands together and looked at them with her best begging eyes. Both boys stood awkwardly in front of her before sighing.

'We got it,' Jak motioned as a reply. Erwen jumped up with a whoop, exclaiming, "Great! Thank you guys so much! I owe you one!" The boys rolled their eyes as Jak ran to the end of the cliff and hopped up to where egg was. Pushing it over the edge, the boys watch it land on the soft nest built below the cliff, next to where the Birdwatcher and Erwen stood.

"Good job, now meet me down here by the egg," the old lady called. Jak sent down a thumbs up before hopping down and jogging over to where the egg landed.

"Oh my, I hope the poor dear's okay," the Birdwatcher mumble about the egg, before turning to Jak and Daxter, "Here's a powercell for your valor." Erwen patted Jak on the shoulder when the egg started to shake. The two teens took a step back while Daxter hopped down from Jak's shoulder and took a cautious step forward when the shell broke and the Flut-Flut baby's head popped out of the bottom half. Spotting Daxter, the large bird made an inquisitive sound before hopping out of it's shell and landing in front of Daxter.

"Mama! Mama!" the bird chirped. Jak and Erwen both covered their mouths to stop their laughter while Daxter whined out, "Oh no. No, no, no, no!"

"Look! Isn't that cute? It thinks you're its momma," The Birdwatcher cooed. Erwen choked out, "Adorable," while Jak nodded, his hand still firmly on his mouth.

"Aah, I'm not your mom!" Daxter groaned, lifting an arm and motioning to the fur underneath it, "Ya see any feathers here?" Erwen buried her head into Jak's shoulder her shoulders shaking in helpless laughter while Jak pressed his lips together to hold back his own laughter.

"Oh, love at first sight. Ahh," Erwen's aunt sighed happily. She then straightened herself and turned back to the teens, "Listen, I'll take this little chick back to the village with me and work with the Sage to take care of her." Erwen gave her aunt a thumbs up, gasping for air while Jak worked on controlling his breathing, a grin still firmly on his face. The Birdwatcher nodded and hobbled over to the Flut-Flut, coaxing the baby to join her on her long walk to the village. After the old woman left, Daxter turned to his friends with a glare.

"I don't like either of you now," he said, sending his friends back into laughter.


	6. The Muse and the Ottsel

This was the hardest chapter for me to write, because I wanted to do so much while holding back and keeping it a "reasonable" (when has any of my chapters been reasonable?) length. Also, please visit my profile to vote on the poll there. It will only be up until I get into Jak II, so please vote. Now, on to the story.

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After a night's sleep, the trio greet the sun by jumping down the dock and entering the fisherman's speed boat. Erwen checking over the engine while Daxter begged at Jak about not going back to Misty Island.

"How about I stay here and you two go to Misty Island? Eh? You guys can still do the… Whatever it is you need to do… But, I won't be there!" Daxter offered.

'So, you want to meet your child?' Jak joked, getting a choked laugh from Erwen when she looked up and saw the horrified look on Daxter's face.

"Stop worrying, Daxter. Jak and I will be right there with you," Erwen tried to soothe, unfortunately her grin said otherwise and only riled the ottsel up more.

"It's a little hard to do when I'm friends with you crazies," Daxter snapped, scowling at both of his friends. Erwen and Jak winced at the tone, before sharing a look of understanding.

"Alright, Dax. How about you come with us to Misty Island, but you get to tell us 'I told you so' if something bad happens?" Erwen offers. Daxter opened his mouth to argue when he realized what she was offering. Thinking it over, Daxter sighed.

"Okay, you win. I will join both of ya on your quest. But only because you begged for me to go," Daxter sniffed, getting an eye roll from both of the teens. Jak then shot the ottsel a smile which Daxter easily returned.

"Guys, get your butts in this boat or I'm leaving without you," Erwen threatened, her hand over the switch. At the looks of horror on the boys' faces, Erwen smirked and twitched her hand toward the switch. This movement prompted the boys to get onto the boat, encouraging a laugh from Erwen.

"And we're off," Erwen called, flipping the switch and driving the boat to Misty Island.

Upon reaching the shore, the trio collected the precursor orbs before encountering a split in the path.

'So, where do we go?' Jak motioned, Daxter and Erwen cocking their heads to the side as if trying to decide. A loud purring sound came from their left, catching their attention on the gold colored muse, bouncing playfully in the spot. Jak and Erwen look at each other before placing a fist on an open palm.

"Green, Red, Blue," Erwen chanted, ending with an open 'green' palm while Jak had the 'Red' v-sign. Daxter let out a cackle, "Looks like Jak gets first pick." Erwen rolled her eyes and rested her hands on her hips while her blond friend looked down the two paths, contemplating where he wanted to go. Jak then grinned and pointed to the right path, getting a groan from Erwen and laughter from Daxter.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Erwen sighed, walking carefully toward the muse, only for it to leap away and prance on the top of the skull. Erwen scowled and jumped onto the skull, only to slip on the bone and almost fall off. Jak moved as though to catch her, only for Erwen to catch herself, which got both boys laughing.

"Oh, ha ha. This is hilarious. Can you guys just go?" Erwen huffed, as she pulled herself up and clamored up the skull as the muse, again, fled from her reach. Jak and Daxter shot each other grins before waving at her and running down the right path, laughing again when they heard Erwen yell at the muse to stop jumping away from her. Running across the path, Jak fought off lurkers and collected precursor orbs. Stopping in front of a glowing red mass of eco, Jak took a step back, inhaled, and ran through it. Instantly, the blond felt stronger, strong enough to defeat the Bone Armor Lurkers with one hit, strong enough to lift the zoomer he saw Keira working on.

"Wow, buddy! Ya look like you're ready to take on those Lurkers," Daxter commented as Jak roll-jumped his way over to another platform, knocking down a Bone Armor Lurker on the way. Jumping to the next platform, Jak beat the Lurkers there a quickly as possible before stopping and staring at the bone standing in front of them.

"Oh, great. Now what are we going ta do?" Daxter whined, looking up at the top of the bone. Jak crouched down and spotted a crack running around the entire bone. Taking a step back, Jak jumped up and did two spin kicks, changing the bone into a bridge.

"Huh. Nice job, Jak," Daxter crowed, as Jak ran across the bridge and into the arena after opening the door with blue eco. The door slammed behind them and Lurkers appeared over the walls, jumping down to surround Jak.

"WAHH! IT'S AN AMBUSH JAK!" Daxter screamed, Jak wincing at the volume and sending his friend a glare.

'I can see that,' Jak motioned, dodging one Lurker and taking out another. He flowed through the fight, dodging the bomb bags and defeating the Lurkers as quickly as possible. After clearing all the Lurkers, a set of stairs rose from where they were positioned in the ground. The boys rushed for the alcove the stairs lead to, out of the cannon fire, where they collected precursor orbs and a powercell. They stood in the alcove, waiting for a pause in the cannon fire, before running to the other door, right into three Bone Armor Lurkers.

"Gah!" Daxter yelped, as Jak dodging under a swing and attacked the Lurkers, defeating them as quickly as he can, before collecting the precursor orbs he had to leave alone. Running around the area, he picked up more precursor orbs and a scout fly, beating up Lurkers the entire time when he came across a large boat. Jumping on board, he collected the precursor orbs and the scout fly before jumping down to the deck and running over to the water.

"Hey look! It's the zoomer!" Daxter exclaimed, Jak nodding and jumping on. The communicator popped out of his pocket as he started to ride on the water.

"Jak, those Lurkers flying around with the mines are big trouble. The plan is to try and use them to open the eco silo if the cannon bombing doesn't work. Take them out, okay?" Erwen called from the small machine, her voice tinny. Jak grinned and revved up the zoomer while Daxter let out a happy cackle.

After flying around and picking up another powercell, scout fly, and more precursor orbs, Jak parked the zoomer and ran back up to the ship.

"Hey! Where did those barrels go to?" Daxter asked, looking up the ramp on top of the boat. Jak paused and looked up the ramp as well, cocking his head to the side as no barrels rolled down at them. Cautiously, Jak and Daxter made their way up the ramp, noticing the lack of precursor orbs and the missing scout fly. Pausing when they got to the top, Jak peeked around the corner before leaping out, arms up in a fighting stance. Erwen turned back to them with a smug smirk while leaning back on the cannon, muse lounging on her shoulder.

"You boys are welcome," Erwen said, shrugging and taking a step off the cannon, only to misstep and land firmly on her bottom. Jak covered his mouth to hold in his laughter while Daxter let a snort slip out, getting a glare from the white haired girl.

"Oh, be quiet," she snapped, petting the muse to soothe the creature's ruffled fur. Jak gave her a half grin and offered his hand to her, which she took gratefully, while Daxter cackled on his shoulder.

"You have the best falling faces," Daxter gasped as his laughter subsided. Erwen stuck out her tongue while Jak rolled his eyes and jumped down in a corner, landing right beside a scout fly crate, which he smashed open and collected the scout fly. Turning, he eyed the precursor orbs before running to collect them, only for the ground to fall out from under him.

"AHHH!" Daxter yelled as they fell, the fog reaching up to grab the boys when Jak's wrist was grabbed and the blond grabbed what was holding him in return. The boys looked up to see Erwen, her eyes red, straining from the angle, slowly inching back to use as leverage to pull the boys up.

"What ever you do, don't let go," Erwen grit, pulling them up with a grunt. Jak landed on her while Daxter fell near the muse, spitting out dirt.

"Jak… You alright?" Erwen gasped, splayed out on the ground. The blond nodded against her shoulder, laying on top of her as they worked on breathing from the adrenaline rush. Daxter sat up and brushed himself off, glaring at the muse who watched in what appeared to be amusement, before turning to the two teens.

"Hey, lovebirds! Let's go!" Daxter shouted, taping his foot on the ground. Jak and Erwen practically leapt off each other, flushed and sputtering and signing, only to get an eye roll from Daxter.

"C'mon," Daxter encouraged, hopping onto Jak's shoulder as they stood up. The muse leapt gracefully onto Erwen's shoulder before the girl took a running leap over the gap. Jak followed with a rolling jump, then the two continued until they came across a Lurker in an alcove. Quickly defeating it, Jak broke the scout fly crate and obtained the powercell, getting an eyeroll from Erwen for his enthusiasm.

"Almost done, guys. We just need to get that powercell, then we can leave," Erwen offered, leaping over to an area tucked away with a blue eco lift. Jak jumped after her and watched as Erwen charged up the pad with eco, her eyes a bright blue, and rode out the lift to obtain the powercell. When she returned, she avoided eye contact with Jak, up until they were half way to Sandover when she piped up, "Let's not mention the fall to anyone… Agreed?" Jak nodded his head, his eyes anywhere but at her. Erwen nodded and went back to steering the boat safely back to the dock. Once they landed, the trio went to the sculptor's hut, where as soon as they entered, the muse leapt from Erwen's shoulder and landed on all fours. It cooed a little, getting the sculptor's attention.

"Oh, my muse! You saved her!" The sculptor exclaimed, shifting from his left foot to his right happily, "Oh, you really are the best! Here, take this powercell. I won't need it now that I got my inspiration back!" Erwen smiled and accepted the powercell while Jak and Daxter made gagging noises in the back ground.

"I'm really glad you got your muse back," Erwen admited, smiling at him. The sculptor returned the smile and they stood there, looking at each other until Daxter cleared his throat.

"As sweet as this is, can we leave? Some of us are tired!" Daxter exclaimed. Erwen glared at Daxter while the Sculptor looked down sheepishly.

"Sorry to keep you. Thanks again for my muse," The Sculptor said, waving the three off. Erwen flashed him another smile before exiting the hut, Jak and Daxter behind her, rolling their eyes. Arriving at the Birdwatcher's hut, Erwen put her hands on her hips and grins at the boys.

"Well, tomorrow, we go through the Fire Canyon, so we need to get some sleep. See you boys in the morning," she said, turning into the hut. Jak waved at her while Daxter let out a yawn.

"C'mon big guy, let's go home," Daxter managed through his yawn. Jak nodded and jogged to the now empty hut, seeing as his uncle set off on his adventure that morning. Stretching, Jak fell into his bed, Daxter leaping off his shoulder just in time. As Daxter mumbled a 'good night', Jak wondered what it would have been like if, instead of Erwen under him, it was Keira. Slowly, Jak fell asleep, to the smell of salt and sand and to the sound of a faded lullaby.


	7. Ottsel Over Lava

Early morning brought Jak and Erwen to the Precursor statue, to exchange the orbs they collected. When Erwen held out the orbs, the statue didn't respond. However, when Jak held out the orbs, the statue finally spoke to the duo.

"For your gift, another powercell is yours," the statue hisses, releasing one of the powercells in it's eye socket. Erwen scowled at the statue as Jak gathered the rest of the orbs, trying not to laugh at his friend's frustration at the statue. Holding out the orbs, Jak grinned as the Precursor statue hissed out, "You have proven yourself worthy. Here is a powercell." Erwen threw up her hands while Jak silently laughed at her frustration.

"That's it! I call favoritism," Erwen insists, pointing at the silent statue while Jak continued to laugh behind her. At the statue's continued silence the girl let out an angry groan and plopped down on the grass, laying on her back to look up at the still changing sky. Jak sat down beside her, grin fading into a content smile as they relaxed in silence. The green sun painted the sky in yellow-green before fading into the light blue, as clouds rolled over.

"Hey Jak?" Erwen asked, briefly glancing at the boy to make sure she had his attention before continuing, "Do you sometimes feel like you don't belong here?"

'What do you mean?' Jak motioned, frowning at his friend. Erwen sighed, staring at the sky.

"Like, we've known each other a long time, right? So, why does no one seem to know how long **we've** known each other? They only know how long we've know Daxter and not each other. It just seems… weird," Erwen sighed, eyes trained solely on a cloud. Jak pursed his lips before leaning over and giving her a flick to the head, getting a surprised yelp from Erwen.

"What was that for?" she snapped, sitting up and rubbing her forehead. Jak grinned and brought her head to his, allowing for their foreheads to gently touch.

'You need to stop thinking so much and just relax,' Jak motioned, his eyes never leaving hers. Erwen blinked in surprise before a small smile crossed her face, rubbing her forehead against Jak's before pulling back.

"That's hilarious, considering the biggest thinker is still in his hut," Erwen says, jerking her thumb at Samos' hut. Jak allowed himself to laugh with Erwen before silence returned, the two watching the sky.

"HEY!" The teens blink and shoot each other a look when they spot Keira and Daxter on the small beach, waving at them. Erwen smirked at Jak, bumped his shoulder then rose, only to dive into the waters below. Jak quietly laughed before pushing off the ground, leaping into the water to swim over to his friends.

The group walked over to the Fire Canyon, Keira leading the way while Erwen walked a little behind her, on the green haired girl's right, squeezing the water out of her clothes while the two talked about whatever the girls talked about when they were far enough away from the boys. Jak and Daxter followed, Jak with an excited grin and Daxter nervously chewing his lip.

'This is going to be great. We're finally leaving the village,' Jak motioned, jogging to keep up with the girls while still giving them privacy.

"Ah, define 'great'," Daxter muttered nervously, shifting from foot to foot as they arrived at the A-grav zoomer.

"You have the 20 cells needed to power the heat shield," Keira started, spinning to the boys while Erwen leaned on the zoomer, Daxter dropping to stand on the ground, "Now be careful! The shield will only protect your zoomer until it reaches 500 degrees, so try to keep her cool." Jak nodded in understanding while Daxter nervously swallowed before chewing on his nails.

"Flying over open lava will heat you up fast! Hit 500 degrees and it's over!" Keira ended, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

"OVER!?" Daxter yelled, "Like burning molten metal OVER?!"

"The Fire Canyon gets pretty hot," Keira explained, "So keep a look out for jumps to keep you off the hot ground. I've also released several blue cooling balloons you can use to drop the shield's temperature quickly. Oh!" At the exclamation, Jak and Daxter cocked their heads at Keira getting a laugh from Erwen. Keira allowed herself to smile at the twin-like movement as she continued, "When you get across, don't forget to activate the teleport gate in the Blue Sage's lab! Then we'll be able to teleport over and meet you! Good luck!" She gave the boys a salute and left for Samos' hut. Erwen pushed off the zoomer and moved to follow only for Jak to step in the way.

"Jak? What are you doing?" Erwen asked, eyeing the blond carefully. Jak gave her an innocent smile, walking closer to her. Erwen took a step back for each step forward that Jak took, eventually leading to Erwen's back touching the zoomer. Glancing at the zoomer, Erwen turned an unimpressed look to Jak while Daxter climbed up to Jak's shoulder.

"It'll be more fun if you come with us!" Daxter chirped, still slightly fidgeting but grinning widely at the white haired girl. Erwen watched Daxter and his fidgeting before sighing.

"Fine, but Daxter has to be somewhere safe," Erwen insisted.

Daxter hid in Jak's bag, Erwen pressing against Jak's back as the trio flew over the lava. Erwen would squeeze Jak's waist when they sailed over the open lava and moved back to look over the blond's shoulder while Jak drove.

"There!" Erwen yelled pointing at a scout fly crate, Jak steering the zoomer toward it while Daxter poked his head out of Jak's bag to look over Jak's shoulder for ways to get out of the lava.

"There it is!" Daxter yelled over the engine, pointing at the Trans Pad. Jak looked in the direction that Daxter pointed and steered the zoomer to the pad, barely parking when the zoomer just touched 452 degrees. The three friends sat on the zoomer as it cooled, working on controlling their breathing.

"Next time we ride a zoomer together," Erwen breathed, leaning her head on Jak's shoulder, "I drive."

'Noted,' Jak motioned, his head tilted back while Daxter alternated between fanning Jak and fanning himself.

"Can we go?" Daxter whined, still alternating his fanning, but mostly on him now. Erwen gave a noncommittal grunt, still sliding off the zoomer, only hissing when her skin brushed over some parts of the heated metal. Jak rocked himself forward and pushed hard on the handlebars, leaping off the zoomer without needing to touch the metal.

"Show off," Erwen grunted, trudging to the ravine leading toward the village. Jak and Daxter snickered as they followed her to the Blue Sage's lab. Upon entering, Erwen stopped short and looked around the hut in confused horror. Plans and inventions littered the floors, dust was starting to collect over the fallen items and the roof leaked despite the waterfall being a good few feet away and no rain.

"What happened here?" Erwen muttered to herself, bending down to pick up a piece of paper with schematics for an invention drawn on it. Jak shrugged before turning on the teleporter. After a moment of pause, Samos flew out of the portal, landing hard on the floor. Jak and Erwen both flinched at the loud noise of Samos colliding on the ground, Keira nimbly jumping out on her own and looking around the hut.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that teleporter tingling sensation," Samos muttered, brushing himself off. He looks around the hut and jumps in surprise, crying, "Hey! It looks like the Blue Sage threw a party!"

"Oh my! Rock Village is on fire!" Keira yells, pointing out the window. Erwen hurried over to the window and gaped at the destruction outside.

"One HECK of a party!" Samos exclaims, swinging his staff to nearly hit Jak only for the blond to duck at the last moment. Jak shot Samos a glare while Daxter chuckled quietly from the ground.

"No, no! I mean Rock Village is being bombarded with flaming boulders!" Keira explained, looking out the telescope into the village. Jak stood behind her, his eyes looking at Keira's bottom while Daxter jumped to look out the window while Erwen walked to the other side of the window to look out as well.

"Oh! But it looks like the Blue Sage is working on a levitation machine to move them! Assuming it's operational, we're gonna need powercells to fuel it! I guess you will have to find some more," Keira said, looking at Jak.

"We'd better take a look at his notes. Jak, Erwen, go check on the villagers, then come back and give us an update," Samos instructed, looking at each teen in turn. He then added, "And take the fur ball with you!" Erwen nodded and exited the hut quickly, Jak glancing at Keira in confusion only for her to motion for him to follow Erwen out into the village.


	8. Ottsel in the Village

Sorry for the long wait, but it's finally here! Enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

Rock village smells of burning rubble as Jak jogs to catch up with Erwen. The white haired girl abruptly stops, staring at a flaming boulder sadly. Jak stood beside her, patting her shoulder while Daxter watches her with worry.

"This isn't fair," Erwen whispers, her brow furrowed as she continues to watch the bolder smolder.

'We'll fix this. Don't forget that,' Jak motions, hugging Erwen with one arm.

"Yeah! We got this!" Daxter chirps, leaning over to give Erwen a punch on the shoulder. Erwen gives the boys a grateful smile before clearing her throat.

"Alright, guys. Let's go check on the villagers," Erwen says, walking toward the center of the village. The trio walk past a Precursor oracle, Jak and Daxter snickering as Erwen sticks her tongue out at the statue. They briefly pause at an orb container, allowing Erwen to charge the container with blue eco. After collecting the orbs, the trio walk over to an older woman.

"You look like a couple of capable fellows. I've got a research project going and maybe you could help me out," the woman asks, looking at the trio. Erwen opens her mouth to reply when Daxter jumps in and cuts his friend off.

"Hey, we're the ones on a big quest here! We ask YOU for help!" Daxter pipes in. Erwen frowns at her small friend while the woman shifts in thought.

"Well, perhaps we can help each other," the woman offers. Daxter opens his mouth to sass the woman, only for Erwen to cover his mouth, to Jak's amusement.

"How can we help you?" Erwen asks, hand moving away from Daxter's mouth as she shoots a warning look at the ottsel.

"I've been studying the burrowing habits of lightning moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years. But now those awful Lurkers have scared the moles to the surface! And since they're blind as bats, they can't find their way back underground," the woman sighs, looking toward the Basin. She turns back to the trio and continues .

"If you could herd them back into their burrowed tunnels, we might just save their lives. I've got a powercell that says you can do it!" Erwen opens her mouth to agree only for Daxter to pipe in with, "Yeah. Lightning moles. We care. Maybe for TWO powercells!" Erwen throws her hands up in the air in exasperation, while Jak looks away while silently laughing. The woman only chuckles at Daxter's comment.

"Nice try, but I would be willing to part with another powercell if you three find me 90 precursor orbs for my research equipment. Fair enough?" the woman offers.

"Yes. That sounds completely fair," Erwen assures the woman, pushing Jak further into the village. Once out of earshot of the woman, Erwen turns to Daxter with a scowl.

"Dang it, Dax! One of these days, your mouth is going to get you in trouble," Erwen hisses as they enter a stage-like area. Daxter rolls his eyes and open his mouth to retort when a man dressed in armor groans, "Oh. My aching head."

"I'd bet that's one of your vital organs. Walk it off, tough guy," Daxter jokes, causing Erwen to groan and bury her face into her hands while Jak laughs at his friends.

"Oh sure, I was tough once. Maybe even the toughest of them all. I single handedly defended this village from those horrid creatures for almost a year!" the man complains, his motions wide and dramatic, almost hitting Erwen in the face at one point. The white haired girl flinches back in surprise, tripping over her own feet to get away from the dramatic man. Jak reaches out and catches her, frowning briefly at the whining man before turning to Erwen.

'Are you okay?' Jak motions, helping Erwen right herself. Erwen nods as the man continues his over-dramatic retelling of the events that led him here.

"Then that horrible monster arrived and commenced the boulder bombardment. So, full of valor. Armor shining in the sun, I climbed the hill to take him on! But he pounded me like one tenderizes a yakow steak," the man sobs.

"Have ya tried attacking him with your melodrama? Cuz it's killin' me!" Daxter snaps. Jak frowns and nods his head in agreement while Erwen huffs, but still nods.

"After my last stunning failure," the man continues , ignoring the trio, "he sealed the passage way to his roost with a 30 ton boulder. Leaving no one any way to challenge him again. So, our sage, a master of blue eco and a mechanical genius, devised a machine capable of lifting the boulder out of the way!" the man exclaims before suddenly slumping forward.

"But alas, he disappeared before we had a chance to turn it on. And he took all of his powercells with him. At least I was able to pull enough pontoons out of our bridge to prevent that monster from coming down here to do me harm," he whimpers. The trio shifts uncomfortably before Daxter clears his throat.

"Yeah, good. Good job there, tough guy. But um, we're gonna need you to uh… put 'em back and stuff," Daxter stutters. The man glares at the ottsel, making Erwen move to put herself between the two.

"Oh, sure… And seal my doom ?" the man tries to growl, before collapsing in on himself with a sigh.

"Alright, fine. Bring me 90 precursor orbs and I'll let the pontoons loose. But I'm NOT going to fight that monster again!" the man insists. Erwen nods while Jak and Daxter roll their eyes at the man's dramatics. The trio turn and walk over to the smaller man in a barrel.

"Hello sir-" Erwen starts, only for the man to cut her off with a groan.

"Oh no, not another hero! I lost my shorts on THIS so-called hero's big fight against the monster up there!" He quickly leans closer to Erwen to whisper, "Trust me, the smart money's on the monster," then suddenly pulls away to continue with, "That wager pretty much tapped me out! So I got a proposal. Bring me 90 orbs to get me back on my feet and I'll give you a powercell in return! And, if you're game, I do have one more bet in mind. My big comeback! Beat the record time in Dead Man's Gorge in the Precursor Basin and I'll get a pretty payoff! For that, I'll give you another powercell!" The three teens smile and nod at the man before quickly turning and walking away.

"That was…interesting," Erwen offers once they are out of earshot and working on collecting precursor orbs. Daxter snorts from Jak's shoulder.

"That's being nice," the ottsel comments, Jak nodding his head slowly with a sullen face. The blond motions, 'Sad, but true,' getting a laugh out of Erwen. The three walk through the village, picking up all seven scout flies and most of the precursor orbs before returning to the blue sage's hut.

"Samos! Keira! We're back!" Erwen calls, Jak and Daxter entering behind her.

"Good, good. Erwen, how were the villagers?" Samos asks. Erwen sighs before straightening her posture, ignoring her friends' snickering at her attempt to seem more mature.

"We can get five powercells from the villagers. Two more, if Jak speaks with the Precursor oracle," Erwen answers. Keira turns to her white haired friend in confusion.

"Why does Jak need to talk to the Oracle?" Keira asks. Both Jak and Daxter start snickering as Erwen sighs.

"Because favoritism," She answers bluntly, getting a giggle from Keira.

"Well," Samos begins, "the situation here stinks worse than a Lurker's armpit! Before Blue Sage's disappearance, he journaled trouble in all the surrounding areas. Of particular interest to me is the dark eco infection of some innocent plants in the Precursor Basin." Samos pauses and sighs, looking out the window sadly.

"Tomorrow, Keira will transport your A-Grav Zoomer to the nearest Trans Pad. Ride the Zoomer to a green eco vent and then carry the green eco to the corrupted plants. That should heal them. Don't miss a single plant, or the infected ones will slowly re-infect the healthy ones," Samos sighs. The sage turns in time to catch Daxter rolling his eyes.

"And Daxter…" Samos growls, getting a flinch from the ottsel, before yelling, "Start cleaning up in here! And don't forget the corners!" Daxter throws his hand into the air, getting laughs from both of his friends.

"Hey Erwen! I found something you might want to check out!" Keira calls over to her friend. Erwen and Jak walk over to Keira.

"What is it, Keira?" Erwen asks, walking over to her friend.

"Apparently, the Precursor structure just off the coast leads to an underwater lost city!" Keira begins, looking out the window. Erwen perks up while Daxter looks in the bucket near the console.

"A lost city?!" Erwen parrots, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Jak chuckles at Erwen's enthusiasm while Keira nods.

"The Blue Sage has been trying to figure out how we can bring one of the chambers to the surface, but he was never successful. You should check it out tomorrow!" Keira advises. Daxter gulps as a lurker piranha seems to grin at him from in the bucket.

"Uh, aren't there a lot of um, Lurker Sharks in that water?" Daxter whimpers, leaning away from the bucket. Both Jak and Erwen snicker as Keira leans down with a smirk.

"Why? Are you scaaared?" Keira teases. Daxter straightens up at the accusation.

"Me?! Of course not! Just…lookin' out for Erwen here. You uh, know what a chicken she can be," Daxter scoffs. Erwen gives Daxter a glare while Jak looks away, his shoulders shaking. Keira rolls her eyes and smirks.

"Well, if you swim out over the carol reef, I doubt the Lurker Sharks will bother you. They don't like shallow water," Keira explains, waving her hand.

"Thanks for the information, Keira," Erwen offers. Keira waves away the white haired girl's gratitude while yawning. Samos turns to the group of teens, a stubborn look on his face.

"We'd best get to bed now. You three have an early morning tomorrow, so get some sleep," Samos orders, motioning for Keira to follow him to the Blue Sage's living area. Keira offers the trio a wave and a mumbled, "Good night," as she follows her father to the living room. Erwen stretches and grabs a thick blanket, laying in the middle of the lab, motioning for Jak to start looking around the lab for somethings that can be used as pillows for the two teens. After finding two more blankets and folding them to be used as pillows, the two teens lay down. Daxter scrambles onto Jak's stomach while Erwen shifts to her side, facing a wall. A comfortable silence covers the trio as the sounds of the waterfall and rain meld together outside.

"Hey Jak?" Erwen whispers. Jak turns his head to Erwen's back, spotting Erwen's eye peeking over her shoulder.

"Even though they were weird, I'm glad the villagers were alright," Erwen confesses, turning back to face the wall, her ear turning pink. Jak smiles and looks back at the ceiling, thinking, 'I am too.'


	9. Of Ottsels and Moles

I'm alive! Here is a new chapter! And yes, I am avoiding the confusing levels as best as I can.

* * *

Morning finds Jak and Daxter waking up to Samos' shouting.

"What are you boys still doing here? Erwen has already left for the Underwater City!" Samos snaps, jolting both boys awake. Keira winces at her father's tone. She then helps Jak off the floor, a grin pulling on her lips.

"On the plus side, I know where another Power Cell is. The Blue Sage mentions a flying lurker stealing one of his Power Cells. It flew off to the Precursor Basin, so keep an eye out for the lurker," Keira offers. Jak grins and nods, causing Keira to flush and smile. Daxter rolls his eyes and tugs on Jak's hair.

"C'mon, let's get going," Daxter whines impatiently. Jak rolls his eyes, but still heads out of the hut. Jak jogs past the bridge, noticing the pontoons floating in the water.

'Erwen must have given that warrior the 90 precursor orbs,' Jak motions. Daxter looks out at the water.

"Well, she needs to go over there-ish. It makes sense," Daxter replies with a shrug. Jak slows to a walk, thinking over Daxter's comment before nodding in understanding.

'That's true,' Jak agrees as they reach the entrance of the Precursor Basin. Jak jumps onto the zoomer and takes off into the Basin.

"Hey Jak! Look at that thing!" Daxter calls, pointing at a red creature. Jak glances at the animal, a grin crossing his face.

'Wanna chase him?' Jak motions. Daxter grins at Jak.

"Need you ask?" Daxter replies. Jak smirks and revs the engine, startling the creature. The duo chase it until the animal jumps down a hole. Jak slows to a stop beside the hole, Daxter leaning over Jak's shoulder to peer into the hole.

"Ya think that was a mole the lady was talking about?" Daxter asks, glancing at Jak. Jak tilts his head to the side before signing, 'I think so.'

"Well, let's chase 'em down!" Daxter exclaims, jumping on Jak's shoulder. Jak grins and takes off , locating and chasing the other moles into their hole. While flying around the Basin, Jak spots a flying lurker.

'There's the lurker Keira mentioned,' Jak motions, turning the zoomer to face the lurker.

"What are we waiting for? After it!" Daxter cries, pointing after the lurker. The duo takes off again, slamming into the lurker and hunting down the other lurkers. Hitting the last lurker, a Power Cell pops out of the pouch the lurker was carrying. Jak tilts the zoomer enough for Daxter to lean over and scoop up the Power Cell.

"Oh yeah! Got it!" Daxter cheers, dropping the Power Cell into Jak's pack. Jak silently laughs at his friend's enthusiasm, before flying further into the Basin, collecting precursor orbs and scoutflies along the way. They pause to jump from column to column to grab another Power Cell, then takes off again.

"Huh?" Daxter murmurs. He then grabs Jak's ear and yanks, forcing Jak to look at the checkered banner stretched across an opening between two cliffs. Jak replies with a yelp and a glare.

"I think that's the race the gambler was talking about! Let's show how fast we are!" Daxter crows, ignoring Jak's glare. The boy rolls his eyes then flies through the starting line. The timer clicks to life, counting the seconds as Jak and Daxter weave through the obstacles. Seconds away from the previous racer's time, Jak speeds through the finish line.

'We did it!' Jak motions, pumping his fist.

"Oh yeah! We're awesome!" Daxter cheers, jumping on Jak's shoulder. Jak grins and holds up his fist, which Daxter enthusiastically bumps with his own fist.

'Now, let's go take care of the plants,' Jak motions. Daxter's maniacal grin drops to a pout and he groans.

"Do we hafta', Jak?" Jak chuckles and nods, flying the zoomer to where he saw the green eco vent. Passing through the vent, Jak felt the rush of eco, healing scratches and bruises all over his body. Taking off, Jak flew over the purple plants healing them with the remaining eco. Once the eco was depleted, Jak flew back to the vent to charge up.

"Oh no!" Daxter groans, getting Jak to turn enough to see what his friend was groaning about. The purple plants sprout and spawn before Jak's eyes.

'Come on!' Jak motions with a huff, flying over the plants again, healing as many as possible. This pattern continues until they finally heal the last plant. From out of the ground a large flower blooms, releasing a Power Cell.

"You keep on impressing me," Samos says from the communicator, causing Jak and Daxter to jump, "but maybe it's just because I have looow expectations. Okay! Your moment of gloating is over, get on with it!"

"How does he do that?" Daxter wonders. Jak shrugs and flies around, going through the purple race at Daxter's encouragement. After not only finishing the purple race, but also the blue race after, Jak grins a Daxter.

'Ready to go?' Jak motions.

"You have no idea," Daxter insists. Jak flies the zoomer back to the transpad and jumps off, heading back to the village. On the way, the boys notice a scowling, limping Erwen with healing burn marks on her.

"Yesh, Erwen! What happened to you?" Daxter pipes up, as Jak jogs over to her. Erwen's scowl deepens as she slowly straightens her posture.

"The Precursor City was not fun," is all she growls. Jak and Daxter share a look before following Erwen.

'Wait, Erwen! Daxter and I need to see the lady and the guy in the barrel!' Jak motions once he gets in front of her. Erwen stops and sighs, relaxing her face while keeping a frown in place.

"Lead the way, Jak," she sighs, waving her hand. Jak smiles before Daxter tugs on his ear again.

"Let's go!" Daxter insists. The three walk back to the town center, over to the man in the barrel. As soon as the man spots Jak, he perks up.

"Oh, great moves, kid! I knew that time record would fall! Now here's your Power Cell, and I can go collect my big pay-off!" he says, tossing Jak a Power Cell before starting to waddle off.

"Hey! Wait! We've got the orbs!" Erwen calls, jogging after the man. After exchanging the precursor orbs for a Power Cell, she walks back to Jak and Daxter.

"One down, one to go," Daxter says as the trio walk over to the woman. She spots the trio and smiles.

"Thank you for saving those moles, that's awfully good of you!" the woman offers, "Here's a Power Cell to help you out." She hands Jak the Power Cell while Erwen fishes out 90 precursor orbs. She hands them to the woman, who perks up.

"Oh, and you have the orbs! Here's the Power Cell we agreed upon. Now I can get back to my research," the woman says, handing the Power Cell to Erwen before walking off. Handing Jak the Power Cell, Erwen stretches and groans.

"I'm ready to take a nap… Or just go to sleep," Erwen yawns.

'Same,' Jak agrees, raising his hand.

"Here, here!" Daxter joins. Erwen laughs as Jak leads the way back to the Blue Sage's Hut.


	10. Swamp Ottsel

This is honestly my least favorite chapter so far. It's an area I don't really like, it felt clunky and I feel like my word choice was at the worst. On the plus side, I got the draft written in three days compared to two weeks for a chapter draft. I hope you guys still enjoy this chapter despite the flaws that I see in my writing.

* * *

The sun greets Jak and Daxter as they run to meet Erwen at the entrance of Boggy Swamp.

"Finally here, huh guys?" Erwen jokes, putting her hands on her hips to offset the smile on her face. Jak rolls his eyes while Daxter blows a raspberry at Erwen. She laughs and walks to the Swamp, Jak following with a pout. They stop at the branching path. Erwen and Jak look down the vined path and up at the platform.

'Your choice,' Jak motions. Erwen groans and glares at Jak. Erwen groans and glares at Jak.

"You're a jerk," she snaps, pouting as she looks down the paths. After a moment of silent, Erwen turns and jumps on to the higher platform.

"I'm going this way! Be careful guys!" Erwen calls, running across the platform.

"Oh yeah! Thanks for giving us the annoying path!" Daxter yells after her as she runs out of sight. Jak smiles and sighs before gathering some yellow eco and firing at the steel boxes, a motion he remembers Erwen practicing before almost hitting them when they were younger. The yellow eco shoots out, destroying the boxes and releasing precursor orbs.

"Huh! So, yellow eco lets you shoot stuff!" Daxter comments. Jak smirks and nods while gathering the orbs. He then turns and jumps on the rocks to get over the vines. Spying the bats flying overhead and the rats nearby, Jak takes another charge of yellow eco and fires at the creatures. Once the area is clear of enemies, he destroys the armored boxes, releasing the precursor orbs from within. Letting the yellow eco run its course, Jak jogs to the blue eco vent, bringing the precursor orbs to him. He then jumps onto a jump pad, launching himself and Daxter over a thorny wall.

"UUUWAAAH!" Daxter yells as they land on the other side. Jak hits both rats before breaking open the red crate, collecting another scout fly. Getting another full charge of blue eco, Jak jumps back over the wall with another jump pad.

"We need better transportation," Daxter groans, encouraging a laugh from Jak. Jak runs past an alternating gate, gathering some yellow eco to destroy a rats' nest. Jak turns to try and shoot a frog only to skid and fall into the muck.

"This… is disgusting," Daxter gripes, shaking to get rid of the mud as possible.

'When we get out, we are going to swim in the waterfall,' Jak offers, trying to wipe off the grime only to spread the mud more.

"That is one of your best ideas," Daxter sighs, as Jak gives up on cleaning himself and swings over a small wall of thorny vines. Ignoring the frog, Jak runs past another alternating gate to grab a small charge of yellow eco to blast away a rock, opening a yellow eco vent. Charging up on the yellow eco, Jak destroys the two rats' nests and the rats living in them. He then fires at a tether, snapping the vine holding a blimp in place.

'What is that doing here?' Jak motions at the blimp, collecting the precursor orbs nearby.

"I dunno," Daxter replies with a shrug, squinting up at the blimp. Jak collects the powercell from the platform before heading back toward the frog, ignoring it again to get into the cave on the right. Jumping over an alternating gate, Jak charges up with yellow eco to destroy another rats' nest, freeing a blue eco vent.

"There are way too many rats here," Daxter whines as Jak takes a full charge of blue eco and leaps to a small section using the jump pad. Releasing another scout fly, Jak changes to a yellow eco charge to destroy yet another rats' nest, freeing another blue eco vent.

"WAY. TOO. MANY!" Daxter snaps as Jak hits each rat.

'I know, Dax. There's not much I can do about it,' Jak motions, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, well… Try harder?" Daxter asks, getting a huff of laughter from Jak. Jak recharges with blue eco and leaps back to the main area of the swamp, jogging over to a vine and leaping over. Absorbing a charge of yellow eco, he fires at more armored boxes around a pontoon, releasing more precursor orbs. A switch to blue eco and he jumps on to the pontoon to gather the orbs easily.

"Let's go, let'sgo, LET'SGO!" Daxter yelps, as Jak jumps off the sinking pontoon, narrowly avoiding the dark eco infused mud. Landing on the platform, Jak looks over to the other side and groans.

'I have to do more swinging,' Jak motions to Daxter.

"Welp. Better get started," Daxter chirps, ignoring Jak's mock glare. Jak sighs and swings across, wincing at each creak and near slip. Finally reaching the highest platform, Jak spots another tether. Breaking the boxes on the platform below him, Jak fires a shot of yellow eco at the tether, snapping the vine.

"I think Erwen got the other tethers," Daxter comments, looking up.

'Why do you think-' Jak stops, watching the blimp drift away. Jumping to the platform the tether was on, Jak and Daxter collect another power cell and jump down, over another alternating gate. Landing on the other side, Jak and Daxter jolt in surprise as an armored box explodes near them.

"Oh shoot! Jak! Dax! Are you two alrig-!... What happened to you guys?" Erwen asks once she's closer, looking at the muddier duo.

"We took a swim in the muck," Daxter snaps. Erwen puts her hands up defensively.

"On the plus side, we can go to the waterfall?" Erwen offers. Jak nods and walks back to the entrance, Erwen close behind. Traveling through the village, the trio end up at the waterfall, only pausing to take off their bags, before diving in.

"So, tomorrow, we'll get the Oracle's powercells and defeat that lurker. After that, we'll fly over to the red sage's lab," Erwen plans. Jak frowns and shakes his head, swimming closer to Erwen.

'I'll fight the monster. You can keep an eye on Keira and Samos,' Jak insists. Erwen sputters while Daxter looks up in surprise.

"Wha-Bu-! Fine… I'll learn to say no to you one of these days," Erwen huffs, pulling herself out of the water and ringing out her hair before picking up her bag and jumping up to the Blue Sage's lab.

"Why didn't you want Erwen to fight with us?" Daxter asks, paddling over to Jak.

'She needs to rest,' Jak explains. Daxter looks to where Erwen disappeared to before nodding in agreement.

"She needs a break," Daxter agrees, lazily floating in the water. Jak grins at his friend and drifts, idly wondering what the next day would bring.


	11. Ottsel vs Lurker, Go!

New Chapter! Also, there are maybe five chapters left in this series, so I hope all of my readers are still enjoying this! The next actual level I'm going to be writing is Snowy Mountain, keeping the tradition of doing the less confusing levels as Jak while Erwen does the confusing levels off screen. Also also, Erwen needs sleep. Poor bby... Enjoy this Chapter!

* * *

Jak startles awake before dawn, wondering why. Looking to his side, he sees Erwen awake and staring warily at the door of the hut. Jak moves the snoring Daxter from his chest and rolls quietly to his feet. He taps Erwen on the shoulder, gaining her attention.

'What's going on?' he motions.

'I don't know, but I'm worried,' Erwen motions back, biting her lip. The two stare at the door when the sound of heavy shuffling reaches their ears. Erwen inhales sharply while Jak tenses as heavy breathing joins the shuffling. Then, standing in the doorway, is a lurker. Erwen lunges at the lurker before it could make a noise, taking it down quickly before retreating back into the room.

'How long has this been happening?' Jak asks. Erwen sighs and rubs at her eyes, causing Jak to notice the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes.

'Just this past night. They've been trying to get in since Samos went to bed,' Erwen motions, yawning and frowning at the door. Jak frowns at her as Samos enters the room.

"Ah! Good to see you two up now," Samos says, walking over to the consul, stepping on Daxter's tail in the process.

"ACK!" Daxter yelps as he jolts awake, scrambling to climb on Jak's shoulder.

"That hurt!" Daxter whines, clinging to his tail and pouting at Samos.

"Then you should have been up!" Samos waves off, stomping over to the window, "Check the village for more powercells, then meet Keira by the Blue Sage's levitation device." Jak and Erwen nod while Daxter scowls at Samos. The trio leaves the hut, jumping down from platform to platform. Daxter frowns at Erwen and her shaky legs, leaning near Jak's ear.

"What's up with Erwen? She's a bit loopy right now," Daxter whispers.

'She was up the entire night, fending off lurkers,' Jak subtly motions, glancing at Erwen as she stumble-walks over to the Oracle.

"WHAT?" Daxter hisses as the Oracle awakens at Jak's presence.

"Beware the dark light, for it has twisted the fate of one of you. Bring me 120 precursor orbs for each powercell I contain," the Oracle sighs. Jak hands over the orbs while Erwen looks at the Oracle in confusion.

"What does that even mean?" Erwen wonders as Jak scoops up the two powercells.

'Don't know,' Jak shrugs as they walk to where Keira is standing with the levitation machine. Keira turns and smiles at the trio as they approach.

"Great! You have the cells for the machine! They oughta provide enough power to lift that boulder," Keira says, powering on the machine. Under her direction, the boulder levitates out of the way, opening the path to the giant lurker.

"There we go. Now be careful facing that monster lurker at the top," Keira insists.

"WAIT!" Daxter yells, getting the group's attention, "Uh, I'll stay here with Erwen and help protect Keira. Jak, I think you're ready to handle that monster without me." Jak and Erwen roll their eyes while Keira teases, "Oh, really heroic of you." Daxter pouts, but jumps on Jak's shoulder nonetheless.

"Good luck, guys!" Erwen calls after them. Jak turns briefly to flash a thumbs up before jumping to the top. Jogging down the path, Jak skids to a halt at the sight of the lurker.

"Woo! That's one ugly lurker!" Daxter comments, getting a grin from Jak. The lurker turns toward the boys and lets out a roar.

'Here we go,' Jak motions, jumping onto one of the three platforms floating in the lava. The lurker roars again before firing large rocks at the boys. Jak jumps between the three platforms, barely registering Daxter's fearful yelling. Suddenly, a blue eco spawn is released from one of the boulders. Grabbing the charge, Jak lifts the precursor bridge, allowing him to get over to the yellow eco spawn. Charging up with yellow eco, Jak fires just below the lurker's chest plate while the lurker tries to create a large boulder over its head. Eventually, the lurker loses its concentration, dropping the boulder on top of its head.

"Oh yeah! We're awe- JAK! RUN!" Daxter screeches as the boulder lands on the rock platform before them. Jak turns and sprints down the bridge, the boulder rolling after them. After the bridge collapse completely, taking the boulder with it, the lurker rises back from the lava.

"Stay down, Klaww!" Daxter yells as the lurker begins firing rocks at Jak again.

'Klaww?' Jak motions while jumping, ignoring the lurker's roar of frustration.

"Because of the hand-claw-thingy," Daxter explains with a wave. Jak shrugs and continues the fight. After "Klaww" beats himself over the head two more times, the lurker finally sinks in the lava.

"Way to go!" Erwen yells, startling Jak and Daxter as she jumps over to join them.

'What are you doing here, Erwen?' Jak motions accepting her high-five. Erwen giggles nervously as Daxter shoves the powercell into Jak's bag.

"I was a bit worried for you guys, so I dropped Keira off at the Blue Sage's lab and climbed up here," Erwen explains, grinning sheepishly. Jak sighs and raises his hands to motion something when three lurkers in flying machines drop down from the sky, startling the teens. The closest one taunts the trio before flying off with its brethren. Erwen squints after the lurkers, following them down the path, before her eyes widened quickly. Erwen races to the zoomer and jumps on.

"What's the rush?" Daxter asks, startled.

"The Mountain Path's rigged to blow," Erwen answers, blue replacing grey irises as blue eco crackles from inside her. She speeds off, leaving Jak and Daxter on the platform. Jak sighs and heads back to the Blue Sage's lab to wait for Erwen to activate the warp gate. The idea of waiting leaves Jak with a sick feeling.


	12. Ottsel in the Magma Pit

NEW CHAPTER UP! YAY! We're almost done and next would be the editing phase. Now, I'm warning my current readers, as I haven't changed names on before, I don't know what happens when I change a title. If you know, please private message me. If what I think could happen, then just look for the summary with mention of a title change. With all that out of the way, HERE WE GO!

* * *

Jak frowns at the warp gate, tapping his foot impatiently, Daxter copying the movement on Jak's shoulder. Keira idly fiddles with the console, chewing her lip and glancing at the warp gate worriedly. Samos sighs and walks over to stand in front of the warp gate.

"Hey!" Daxter yelps while Jak blinks in confusion.

"Daddy!" Keira protests, finally moving away from the console.

"The three of you need to stop worrying. Erwen has proven time and again that she can handle herself," Samos insists.

"But Daddy! She's exhausted!" Keira cries, hugging herself until her knuckles turn white. Samos sighs again.

"That is just how she is. If there is something to be done, Erwen will do it, no matter the consequences on herself," Samos explains, as if talking to children. Jak presses his lips together while Daxter frowns.

"We know that. But, Erwen doesn't usually go this far!" Daxter exclaims. Samos rubs the bridge of his nose and huffs.

"Then tell her to relax!" Samos snaps. Jak, Keira, and Daxter flinch as the warp gate whirs to life. Samos steps to the side and motions irritably for the teens to jump through. Jak and Daxter jump through first, only to look around the lab in horrified awe. Papers strewn around, consoles broken and live wires fritzing. Among the chaos is Erwen, standing on the activation button, pale and looking just as horrified as Jak feels.

"I-I don't-" Erwen cuts herself off, wordlessly mouthing a prayer to the Precursors, over and over. Jak pulls Erwen into a hug, Daxter joining in as best he can. The trio pull away as Samos falls through the warp gate, Keira jumping through after him.

"Oh, I always wonder if I'm losing body parts in those things!" Samos groans as he pulls himself up. Keira gapes in horror while Samos jumps in surprise when he finally looks around the room.

"Holy Yakow!" Samos yells, "The Red Sage's lab looks worse than the Blue's!"

"Well, it definitely looks as though there's been a struggle here," Keira notes, chewing her bottom lip as she walks to stand beside Erwen. Rasping laughter fills the hut, startling the group. Looking up, Jak recognizes the man and woman from Misty Island.

"I'd hardly call it a "struggle", would you, dear sister?" the man rasps. The woman sniffs haughtily.

"Certainly not. The Red Sage gave up with so little effort. No fun at all," she complains, ignoring Erwen's almost animalistic growl. Samos squints at the siblings before seeming to recognize them.

"Gol?! Is that you?! You've finally gone off the deep end, eh? And Maia, I told you the dark eco would affect you both! Nobody ever listens to old Samos," Samos sighs dejectedly. He then looks up with a scowl, snapping, "What have you done with the Blue and Red Sages?!"

"Don't worry about your colorful friends, you old fool!" Gol rasps, ignoring Erwen as she steps toward him, her fist clenched. Keira holds Erwen back as Gol continues, "They're perfectly safe at our Citadel… Our special guests."

"They have graciously agreed to help us on a little… project," Maia elaborates, smiling cruelly at the group.

"You were wrong, Samos. Dark eco CAN be controlled! We've learned its secrets. And now we can re-shape the world to our liking," Gol rasps.

"You can't control dark eco by itself! Even the Precursors-" Samos is cut off by Maia explaining, "Until now, we've had to scrape by with what little dark eco can be found near the surface. But soon, we will have access to the vast stores of dark eco hidden deep underground."

"Not the silos?!" Samos gasps. Jak looks at Erwen in surprise as she chokes on her own spit. Patting her on the back, Jak listens as Gol rasps out, "Yes, the silos! They WILL be opened! And all the dark eco of the world will be OURS!"

"But that's impossible! Only a Precursor robot-" Samos sputters, only to once again get cut off by Maia.

"Oh don't look so upset, Samos. We've got BIG plans for you and your little guard," she promises, glancing at Jak and Erwen. The siblings vanish in smoke, the sound of Maia's laughter echoing after them.

"Wait a minute! THAT was Gol?! The same Gol who's supposed to turn me back?! Gol is the guy trying to kill us?! I'm doomed," Daxter rants before slumping in defeat.

"We may ALL be doomed! If they open the silos, the dark eco will twist and destroy everything it touches! We simply MUST get to their Citadel to stop them!" Samos snaps.

"How do we get there?" Erwen asks, glaring at where Gol and Maia disappeared from.

"The fastest way there is through the Lava Tube at the bottom of this crater. A few more Powercells and your zoomer's heat shield should get you across the lava safely," Keira offers, walking over to the console.

"All right, you two," Samos begins, "You know what to do! Take the fleabag and go round up more Powercells!" Erwen nods and walks out of the lab, crossing the bridge and starts collecting precursor orbs and scoutflies. Jak follows at a more sedate pace.

"Hey, Jak. Let's get Erwen to rest," Daxter whispers as they watch Erwen jump around the crater, stumbling when she lands on solid ground.

'Yeah… Do you think she'll listen?' Jak motions while Erwen jumps back towards them. Daxter shrugs when Erwen arrives.

"Let's go check out those caves," Erwen orders, walking toward the crystal mine. Jak and Daxter glance at each other before Daxter clears his throat.

"Hey, uh, Erwen? What, uh, are you planning to do tomorrow?" Daxter prods. Erwen turns to face the boys, blinking in confusion.

"I'll go through whatever area you guys won't go through. Like we did at Sandover and Rock Village. Why?" Erwen asks, cocking her head to the side.

"Well, uh… Mmm… Jak?" Daxter asks.

'You won't do that,' Jak motions. Daxter face palms while Erwen furrows her brow.

"Not what I meant, Jak," Daxter sighs. Jak rolls his eyes.

'You need to rest, Erwen. You can't help otherwise,' Jak motions. Erwen slumps her shoulders, frowning at the ground.

"Oh, okay," Erwen whispers. Daxter shoots an exasperated look at Jak before jumping on Erwen's shoulder.

"Jak didn't mean it like that," Daxter reassures Erwen. Erwen giggles humorlessly, nodding in understanding.

"I know," Erwen answers, walking into the mine. Daxter shoots Jak a frown as Erwen and Daxter disappear into the mine. Jak sighs and follows his friends, guilt at upsetting Erwen clawing in his stomach. Looking around the cave, Jak spots Erwen speaking to the two miners in front of the giant gem.

"…90 orbs each!" the robust miner finishes as Jak gets into earshot.

"Where have I heard that before?" Daxter snarks, glancing at Erwen over his shoulder. The girl giggles as Jak finally stands beside her. Daxter then continues, "Hey, how do you two "geniuses" expect to get that big gem outta here, anyway?"

"Well, smarty-pants, we got 12 more years of diggin' to figure that out!" the bigger miner spoke up again. The lanky miner furrows his brow and counts on his fingers.

"Uh, Gordy? Wouldn't it take less time if you dug too?" he asks. The robust miner, Gordy, gives the taller miner a look Jak easily recognizes. Erwen and Samos give Daxter the same look when he whines for help. The taller miner then waves at the trio sheepishly.

"Let's report back to Samos," Erwen says, walking past Jak without a second glance. Jak huffs and jogs after Erwen, moving in front of Erwen, forcing her to stop.

"What is it, Jak?" Erwen asks. Jak hesitates, before starting his apology.

'I didn't mean to upset you… I'm just… worried because you look really tired,' Jak explains, hesitantly apologizing. Erwen relaxes and smiles at Jak, reassuring Jak.

"Thank you for the concern, but I'm fine. Don't worry about me, worry more about Dax," Erwen teases, confirming her acceptance of his apology. Jak snickers at Daxter's offended noise as his small friend pulls himself on to Jak's shoulder.

"Hey! I can handle anything Gol and Maia can throw at us!" Daxter insists, righting himself onto Jak's shoulder. Jak rolls his eyes and Erwen laughs as they walk back to the Red Sage's lab.

"Samos, we're back," Erwen says.

"Good! However, we have a problem. There seems to be a large Lurker presence in the Spider Caves!" Samos snaps, anger in his tone causing Erwen and Jak to flinch.

"Great. Sounds like a real cheery place. Let me guess… There are SPIDERS in Spider Caves, right?!" Daxter yells. Jak snickers and glances at Erwen, who was covering her mouth to muffle her laughter. The two turn back to Samos, in time to hear him snap, "Of course there are spiders in Spider Caves! But that's the least of your problems! The Lurkers are after crystals of concentrated dark eco. You've got to destroy those crystals!"

"We can do that tomorrow," Erwen promises. Samos nods in agreement, despite the frown on his face.

"Make sure that's one of the first things you do," he orders, stomping to the Red Sage's living area. The trio listen as Samos grumbles about Gol and Maia.

"Don't worry too much. Daddy is just concerned about what Gol and Maia may be planning," Keira assures her friends. Daxter snorts while Erwen lets out a sigh.

"I'd be more worried if Samos wasn't upset with this turn of events," Erwen sighs.

"Though we could go for some kind of thanks," Daxter whines. Jak rolls his eyes while Erwen pulls together bedding to sleep on.

"Anyway, get some sleep guys. This means you, Erwen," Keira teases.

"Yes, Ma-ma!" Erwen retorts, rolling her eyes. Keira laughs as she leaves. Erwen lays down on the bedding, Jak and Daxter soon joining her. The hot, humid air rising from the lava encourages Jak to sleep. The last thing he hears is Erwen shifting beside him, grumbling uncomfortably.


	13. One Iced Ottsel, Coming Up!

I LIVE! And I bring a chapter with me!... Forgive me for the pause? Anyway, hope you all enjoy this new chapter!

Jak startles awake at the sound of a body collapsing outside the Red Sage's Lab.

"Wha-Hm-Huh?" Daxter wakes, looking around the lab wildly. Jak looks at the other side of the makeshift bed, where Erwen should be. Jak rolls onto his feet as Erwen doesn't return nor is there anymore sounds coming from outside. Daxter hops onto Jak's shoulder as Jak inches toward the doorway. Peeking outside, they see a prone figure with white hair laying on the ground.

"ERWEN!" Daxter yells as Jak runs over to their friend. Erwen doesn't even twitch as they approach, her breath labored and she sweats profusely. Jak pulls her up, spotting a pair of puncture wounds on her arm, bruised and infected with dark eco.

"Oh no, oh no,ohnoohnoohno…" Daxter chants, as Jak lifts Erwen up and takes her back inside.

"What is going on-! By the Precursors," Samos cuts his rant short at the sight of Erwen, paler than before with dark eco visible around the bite mark.

"Lay her down!" Samos orders. Jak lays her down on their makeshift bed, Daxter jumping off Jak's shoulder to grab a rag and fan the unconscious girl. Samos frowns as he looks over the girl, especially her arm and the bite.

"The green eco in her body is healing the damage while the other ecos are fighting off the dark eco," Samos sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Then, what can we do?" Daxter asks, stopping his fanning briefly to look up at Samos. Keira enters the room and worriedly hurries over to Erwen.

"What happened?" Keira asks, pressing the back of her hand against Erwen's forehead, checking the temperature.

"She's been infected with dark eco," Samos explains again, sitting down beside Erwen as Keira rushes out of the room only to return with a damp rag that she dabs on Erwen's face. Samos turns to Jak with a frown on his face.

"From the looks of it, Erwen took care of the Spider Caves. What you boys can do is head up to the mountains. There's Lurker movement up there. Apparently, they've discovered, and are now trying to remove, some dark eco stores frozen in the glaciers. While you're up there poking around for Powercells, stop those Lurkers and keep a little more dark eco out of Gol's hands!" Samos instructs, using his ability to help accelerate Erwen's healing. Jak hesitates as Daxter clamors up his shoulder. Keira turns to Jak and smiles.

"I'll contact you guys when she wakes up. Just be careful up there," Keira tells them, still dabbing at Erwen's face with the damp rag. Jak nods and finally leaves, glancing once more behind him. Daxter pats Jak on the face, grinning reassuringly at his friend.

"Let's go, Jak. Ol' Green Stuff's got her, so she'll wake up when she does," Daxter assures Jak. Jak nods begrudgingly, leaving the Red Sage's lab for the gondola. Riding up the mountain, Jak shifts from foot to foot, impatiently waiting to reach the top. Once at the top, Jak takes off, destroying all the Lurkers nearby. He jumps onto a switch, barely missing the force field around it. The switch seems to power something down, the force field disappearing from around the switch.

'Let's keep going,' Jak motions, jumping across a small gap to collect some precursor orbs. He pauses, then jumps down breaking open a red crate and releasing a scout fly.

"Oh! Nicely done, Jak!" Daxter exclaims as Jak scrambles back to the other side of the gap. Running past rolling snowballs, Jak deactivates two more switches before powering up with red eco. Spotting multiple Lurkers across the way, he takes off to fight them. A Glacier Troop working a machine that attacks the ice jumps down with a shield. Jak, still charged up on red eco, blows past the shield and destroys the Lurker. Pausing to catch his breath, Jak looks at the wall. Precursor metal peeks out of a wall of ice, dark eco hissing through the cracks.

"Whoa! These must be where the dark eco is!" Daxter exclaims, leaning on Jak's shoulder.

'Looks like it,' Jak agrees, putting his hand against the ice. The dark eco lunges for his hand, a sliver squeezing through the crack to touch Jak's finger. Jak jolts back, putting the eco-burned finger in his mouth, as Daxter watches the dark eco pulse under the ice.

"Yeesh! Let's keep going! This place is giving me the creeps," Daxter whines. Jak nods and they take off again, collecting precursor orbs and shutting off more switches. Running through a cave, Jak notes a capped eco vent before continuing on, down a slide. Quickly defeating another machine working Glacier Troop, Jak skates across a bridge, spotting the Flut-flut from Sentinel Beach.

'Look, Dax! It's your child,' Jak motions, smirking.

"Oh hardy-har-har," Daxter snarks as Jak jumps on the Flut-flut. The young bird squawks and shakes its head before allowing Jak to direct it. Pressing switches and jumping platforms, Jak directs the Flut-flut through the cave. The trio leaps from platform to platform, fluttering and squawking the whole way. Once they land safely at the other side of the ravine, Jak and Daxter jump off, the latter falling to the ground out of relief.

"Oh, ground. How I've missed you," Daxter sighs happily as Jak pets the Flut-flut in apology for riding it so roughly. Jak then jumps onto a switch, starting a machine and collecting another powercell. Daxter climbs back onto Jak's shoulder, huffing in irritation.

"I'm glad we don't need to ride that Flut-flut again," Daxter grumbles as Jak walks to another platform.

'Erwen would be pouting at hearing you say that,' Jak motions. Jak hops on the platform, rising to the entrance in the fortress. Daxter finally asks, "Why do you think she went to Spider Cave while we were sleeping?"

'I don't know. Maybe she saw a Lurker near the lab,' Jak offers, jogging to a cave hidden by trees. Inside, Jak jumps and slides to a yellow eco switch with a powercell on top. After climbing up to the switch and collects the powercell, Jak lurches as the switch activates all the capped yellow eco vents.

"Whoa!" Daxter cries, slipping from his perch on Jak's shoulder. Jak waits for Daxter to right himself before jumping off the switch. Sliding down an ice ramp and past more trees obscuring the exit, Jak glances around before hurrying past the fortress.

"Uh, why don't we deal with the fortress now?" Daxter asks as Jak jumps on another switch.

'I don't want to do it yet,' Jak replies, skating and jumping across a bridge and deactivate two more switches.

"Well, why not?" Daxter snaps. Jak briefly ignores the question to focus on skating across another bridge.

'I think the Lurkers would rush in, if we went there,' Jak finally answers, jumping on another switch. The switch releases a powercell while Daxter swallows nervously.

"That, ah, makes sense," Daxter agrees as Jak puts the powecell in his bag. Jak jumps on to a moving platform, riding over to a higher level and jumps off. He runs through a red eco vent, charging up and attacks the group of Hopping Lurkers that start trying to gang up on him. Jumping up and over on to higher platforms, Jak collects another powercell, letting Daxter slam it into the bag. He runs out the back of the cave, skating across another bridge and collecting precursor orbs before accidentally dropping below it.

"Ack!" Jak yelps, landing in the snow below. He sits up and looks around, spotting precursor orbs and a red crate as well as the Lurkers jumping out of the snow. Slipping in the snow, Jak gathers the orbs and scout fly before jumping around the mountain, barely noticing as he jumps through another red eco vent. He jumps down the platforms rounding the mountain to escape the Lurkers.

"Hey! It's another Lurker-machine-do-hickies!" Daxter exclaims as Jak finally lands on the bottom most platform. The Glacier Troop jumps down from the machine only for Jak to use the remaining red eco to beat it. A powercell flies up and Daxter leans out, catching it as it begins to drop in its arc.

'Good catch,' Jak motions as he squints up the way they came, gauging how many Lurkers were still up there, before starting the climb back up.

"Yeah, I know," Daxter brags as Jak finally gets back near the bridge. Jak rolls his eyes as he clamors up the platforms to finally return to the bridge, skates across, and arrives back at the fortress.

"Hey guys! Can you hear me?" Keira calls over the communicator as Jak stops outside of the fortress.

"We hear ya' loud and clear, baby! Ya' missed me?" Daxter flirts. Keira ignores Daxter's flirting as she starts to speak again.

"Erwen's awake and she left a bit ago to collect the powercells from the mine. She'll probably head to Snowy Mountain after so keep an eye out for her!" Keira informs them, turning off the communicator once done. Jak and Daxter share a look before eyeing the fortress.

'How long will it take me if I run?' Jak motions.

"Three minutes, tops," Daxter replies.

'How long do you think it'll take for Erwen to arrive?' Jak asks.

"About seven minutes," Daxter announces.

'I'mma run it,' Jak motions, running into the fortress. Daxter snorts in response, "Like there was any other way?" Jak quickly collects all the orbs, the last two scout flies, and the powercell, barely stopping outside the fortress. Gasping for breath, Jak glances at Daxter, who crows, "Two minutes and a few seconds!" Jak grins and jogs back to the first cave they entered, gathering the now uncapped yellow eco, and destroying the locked box in the wall and just outside the cave. Collecting the remaining precursor orbs and powercell, Jak runs back to the gondola as it arrives back at the top of the mountain with someone on board.

"Jak! Dax!" Erwen calls, waving at the boys. Jak jumps on as Erwen reactivates the gondola, starting the slow descent back to the volcanic crater.

"Hey, are you guys alrigh-! Jak, your hand!" Erwen cries, grasping the hand with the dark eco burn that was slowly spreading. Her eyes turn green as she coaxs the green eco to heal the burn, Jak watching in awe as the veins of dark eco recedes. Erwen looks up to speak only to stop as Jak looks at her. The two stare at each other, not noticing Daxter looking between the two from the ground. Erwen made a few aborted motions before the gondola came to a sudden stop at the bottom, jolting the two back into reality and Daxter's smug amusment.

"Let's go tell Samos what you guys did," Erwen insisted, her ears bright red. Jak nods while watching her leave for the Red Sage's Lab.

"So, uh, what was that little moment just now?" Daxter asks, leaning against Jak's head.

'What are you talking about?' Jak asks back. Daxter sighs, dropping his head.

"Never mind. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Daxter changes the topic as they follow Erwen back to the lab.

'We'll get the powercells from the oracle, then you and me are going to drive through the Lava Tube,' Jak answers, noting the change in topic. Daxter visibly winces and turns to Erwen.

"Did you hear what Jak just said?" Daxter calls.

"Well, I've been told to be careful. That means I can't fly over the Lava Tube. Samos' orders," Erwen explains with a shrug. Daxter groans as the trio re-enter the lab.


	14. Ottsels Hate Lava

NEW CHAPTER! IN THE SAME MONTH! IT'S THE APOCOLYPSE! Okay, no, but I'm putting up this chapter really early because it's so short. Please keep enjoying and please keep reviewing. Hope you have a good day… night… afternoon thing… I don't know when you will be reading this… I'll stop wasting space.

Jak drops down in front of the Precursor Oracle, Daxter yelps from Jak's shoulder.

"Please be more gentle," Daxter whines. Erwen snorts while Jak rolls his eyes, failing to fight a teasing smile.

"Hey! I just don't wanna fall into lava," Daxter snaps.

"Relax, Dax. You'll be fine. If that was about to happen, Jak or I would catch you before you fell," Erwen reassures him. Daxter huffs again, but relaxes as they finally arrive in front of the Precursor Oracle.

"Seek the pure light, for within its flame the answers reside. You can gain my Powercells by bringing 120 precursor orbs for each," the Oracle groans.

"What the heck's that supposta' mean?" Daxter asks Erwen while Jak exchanges the precursor orbs to the Oracle.

"It sounds like a riddle. Maybe, we'll figure them out later," Erwen offers.

'And by we, you mean you,' Jak jokes.

"Well, you two will be over lava, so I don't think you'll be able to think about it," she replies with a shrug. Jak snorts while the trio walk to the entrance of the Lava Tube. Erwen stops abruptly outside the Lava Tube, frowning off to the side.

"I need to check something out, okay? Good luck, guys," Erwen explains, patting Jak on the shoulder before walking toward where she had been looking. Jak and Daxter share a look then shrug and finally join Keira at the beginning of the Lava Tube. When Keira spots them, she lets out a happy little laugh.

"Alright! With these additional Powercells, I should be able to supply the heat shield with enough power to stand up to this lava!" Keira cheers, fixing the power supply for the increase of power. Keira's smile drops at a reading before turning back to the guys.

"But the shield still has a limit. It will now withstand temperatures up to 800 degrees, but no more, so keep an eye on your gauge," Keira tells them, frowning at the zoomer, "I don't want to think about what those temperatures would do to your zoomer if the shield gives out."

"Yeah, the heat…" Daxter mumbles before realizing what Keira said, "WHAT?! The zoomer?! Hey! What about us?! Couldn't we look for a safer route to Gol's Citadel?" Keira takes a step back at Daxter's outburst before pointing in the tube, causing Jak to look in the tube.

"Look, I've released more cooling balloons into the tube. So you can use them to keep the temperature down. And don't forget to activate the teleport gate in the Yellow Sage's lab. We're counting on you!" Keira exclaims. Jak gives Keira a thumbs up and watches her leave. Once Keira leaves the entrance, Jak and Daxter exchange a look.

"How are we going to do this?" Daxter wonders. Jak looks at the zoomer and grins.

"JAAAAK!" Daxter screams from Jak's shoulder as Jak barely makes a jump while getting a cooling balloon. Jak snickers as they fly over the heated rock, collecting all the precursor orbs and scout flies along the way. Collecting yellow eco, Jak drops into a bowl where there is a spinning machine with generators at the ends.

"Looks like you gotta shoot the power spheres to open the door," Daxter advises.

'Way ahead of ya',' Jak nods, firing and destroying all five balls. Once the door opens, Jak flies out, driving and jumping from metal lane to metal lane, collecting a scout fly along the way. Landing back on the heated rock, Jak starts weaving past boxes of dark eco.

"Ugh… Think I'm gonna be sick," Daxter groans as Jak collects two more scout flies then jumps back onto more metal lanes.

'Please don't, ' Jak winces, trying to speed up after landing back on the heated rock.

"I'll try, but no promises," Daxter admits as Jak weaves around large hanging bombs. Jak pushes the zoomer as fast as it can go, barely slowing down for the last scout flies and its Powercell. Driving then jumping off the last metal lane, Jak lands the zoomer on the Trans Pad, letting Daxter fall off and gag over the lava. Jak winces in sympathy as he puts the Powercell into his bag. Daxter stumbles back over to Jak, heaving himself onto Jak's shoulder again.

'Are you okay?' Jak motions worriedly.

"I'm fine. Let's go activate the warp gate," Daxter answers. Jak nods and jogs over to the gate, quickly activating it. Keira jumps out of the gate alone, looking scared.

"Hey! Where's Erwen and old, short, green, and wrinkly?" Daxter jokes, attempting to lighten the mood.

"This is terrible! Father and Erwen are missing! I think Gol and Maia may have kidnapped them as well!" Keira panics. Jak tenses at the thought of Erwen in danger.

"Relax, sweetheart. I got everything under control," Daxter tries to soothe her.

"Under control?!" Keira burst, "Lurker armies continue to grow across the land, Erwen and the sages have been kidnapped, Gol and Maia have enough eco to complete their terrible plan, and to stop them you're going to have to fight your way through their Citadel!" Keira deepens her breathing, blinking back tears.

"Uh… yeah. That about, uh, sums it up," Daxter admits nervously.

"You've got to rescue them before it's too late! And Jak?" Keira hesitates, looking Jak in the eye before looking away, requesting, "Be careful." Jak smiles and nods before Daxter clamors up his shoulder and snaps, "Yeah, WE will be!" Jak rolls his eyes at his friend's antics while jogging to the Citadel's entrance. Taking in a deep breath, Jak and Daxter share a nod with the other before pushing open the door.


	15. Echoing Ottsels

As soon as Jak enters the front hallway, he wants this whole adventure to just be a long, detailed nightmare. One he would wake up from, finding Daxter as a boy again and Erwen gently teasing nearby. All because of the pain filled scream echoing into the hall. Daxter's fur frizzes at the sound, the ottsel trembling on Jak's shoulder.

"Wasn't that…?" Daxter stops himself, still trembling on Jak's shoulder. Jak swallows his fear and enters the main room of the Citadel. Inside, they see a huge robot surrounded by some form of barrier.

"It's about time you two decided to show up!" Samos snaps, drawing the duo's attention to his cage.

"Nice to see you, too! Do they have you mopping the floors now?" Daxter tries to joke, flinching at the wailing of the machines around them.

"This is no time for jokes, Daxter!" Samos snaps, "Gol and Maia kidnapped us to sap our energies to power their abominable machine! It appears they have combined the functional remains of a Precursor robot with scavenged artifacts from across the land. Then they added a few diabolical editions of their own, creating the one thing capable of opening the dark eco silos! If you can free the five of us, the other sages and I can use our combined powers to break the force field surrounding the robot before they use it to destroy the world!" Another scream rings through the Citadel, getting the trio to flinch at the sound.

'Erwen,' Jak thinks, looking up at the cage hanging over the entrance.

"Get her out first," Samos orders, getting the boys' attention. Samos continues, "If Gol and Maia continue to drain her of the eco in her body, Erwen may die." Jak stiffens and turns, quickly scaling the nearby platforms, trying to get to Erwen faster.

"Hurry up, hurry up," Daxter chants in Jak's ear. Once reaching the cage, Jak breaks the generator, disabling the bars and breaking the connection to the shield. Erwen lays, curled into a ball, unresponsive. Daxter hops off Jak's shoulder, walking over to Erwen's prone form.

"Erwen?" Daxter calls, his voice cracking. Jak crouches down beside Erwen, hesitating from touching her. Erwen was pale, even more so than when she was suffering from dark eco poisoning, her veins visible and various colors flowing through. Jak swallows, finally putting his hand on her shoulder, his hand trembling. She doesn't react. Daxter takes a few steps back, blinking back tears while curling in on himself. Jak shakes his head and buries his head into his knees, shakily inhaling and fighting back tears.

"Hey. What happened?" Erwen croaks, getting both boys to snap their heads up. She looks at them with tired eyes, trying to smile reassuringly.

'Erwen, are you okay?' Jak asks, helping her sit up. Erwen sways but manages to stay in her sitting position.

"I've been better, but I'll be fine in a few minutes," Erwen confesses. Jak sighs in relief, resting his forehead on her shoulder while Daxter tries his best to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Don't ever do this to us again. Oh Precursors, please don't," Daxter begs. Erwen chuckles weakly at that remark.

"I didn't plan to get kidnapped, Dax," Erwen tells Daxter, before a frown settles on her face.

"I don't think I can help you guys any more. Sorry," Erwen apologizes. Daxter leans back and pats her back.

"You've done enough, Erwen. Let us take care of stuff from here on out," Daxter tells her. Jak smiles and nods.

'Don't worry. We've got this,' Jak agrees. Erwen looks between Jak and Daxter before sighing.

"Alright, just promise me you two'll be careful," Erwen orders. The boys grin and nod, before climbing down, chuckling at the sound of Erwen flopping on her back and letting out a quiet "Oof". Reaching the bottom floor, the duo look around the room.

"So, who do we free first?" Daxter asks. Jak shrugs, looking around the room, before running down a path.

Upon reaching the Yellow Sage's cage, Jak breaks the generator powering the cage. The large, bearded man glances at the duo behind him.

"Who woulda thought I'd live to see the day I had to be rescued by a boy and his muskrat?!" the Sage comments. Jak snickers at the comment while Daxter growls. The Yellow Sage sighs before continuing, "I'm gonna give Gol and Maia a little payback for these embarrassments!" The man pauses, eyeing Daxter hungrily.

"Then we'll see about cookin' up some muskrat stew," The Yellow Sage mumbles, getting a nervous swallow from Daxter. Jak scoops up Daxter and hurries to the next path, glancing back to make sure the Yellow Sage wasn't following them.

Arriving at the Red Sage's cage, Jak once again breaks the generator. The large man lets out a wheezing laugh before commenting, "You've finally come to rescue me! Do you know how long I've been in here? What took you so long?" He turns and finally looks at the two, chuckling.

"What are your names?" he asks. Jak opens his mouth, only for Daxter to jump off his shoulder and exclaim, "I'm Daxter! He's Jak. He's with me." Jak rolls his eyes while the Red Sage praises, "Good job, Daxter! You're a real hero!" The Sage then turns back toward the machine, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.

"You've got to stop Gol from launching the robot," the Sage tells the boys, "I'll use my eco power to help open the shield door." Jak nods his thanks before rushing down the next path, Daxter running and jumping onto Jak's shoulder.

The third generator is destroyed as easily as the first two. The Blue Sage's reaction was slightly weird, a little hyper, and completely not the same as the other Sages' reaction.

"Good work, fellows! Old Samos was right about you! Great piles of Precursor metal! That insidious mechanical creation must not be allowed to wreak its terrible havoc! I will try and actuate the shield door by eliciting a conduit of energy between myself and the vast portal below!" The Blue Sage rambles, to Jak and Daxter's confusion.

"Uh, yeah. You do that. We'll uh… go get more help," Daxter says, as Jak slowly backs away. Once out of earshot, Daxter exclaims, "WEIRD-O!"

'Erwen and Keira do the same thing,' Jak points out.

"Well, they're our weirdos!" Daxter waves off as they begin the climb to break Samos' generator.

The final generator breaks and Samos flies out of his cage, joining Jak and Daxter on top of the shield.

"Good work, boys! You're real heroes now!" Samos praises before telling them, "I'll combine my green eco powers with the other sages' and, together, we'll open the shield door surrounding the Precursor robot!"

"Yeah, yeah! That sounds like a good start! And after you guys open the shield, what are you going to do about the robot?" Daxter demands, jumping impatiently.

"Nothing, Daxter. We have to keep the shield open. It's up to you two to figure out how to destroy the robot!" Samos explains.

"Oh great… I get to help the guy who turned me into a fur-ball destroy the only person who can turn me back!" Daxter complains before loudly gulping nervously. Samos ignores Daxter's complaining and Jak's slight amusement, floating down to focus on the shield.

"First, save the world! Then we'll try and convince Gol to help Daxter!" Samos calls up to the boys, firing a beam of green eco at the shield. Once the shield falls, Samos flies back up and dusts off his hands, opening his mouth to speak. Gol and Maia fly up behind Samos, interrupting Samos with a wheezing laugh.

"You're too late, Samos! Once I possess limitless dark eco, I will have the key to creation itself!" Gol sneers.

"This is madness! Releasing that much dark eco will destroy everything we know! Just look at what it's done to YOU!" Samos argues as Jak notices Erwen climbing up to join the small group, looking healthier than earlier.

"It has given us a beauty beyond anything YOU could understand!" Maia explains away. Erwen snorts as she finally joins Jak's side while Daxter asks, ""Beauty"?! Have you two looked in the mirror lately?!"

"Just wait until we open the silos, little one. You think short and fuzzy is bad…" Maia purrs maliciously.

"And to think, you three traveled all the way here for MY help! FOOLS!" Gol wheezes, "Enjoy your front-row seats to the recreation of the world!" The siblings fly down and into the robot, activating the robot and launching off to the silos.

"Jak! Take the elevator up and stop that robot!" Samos orders. Jak hesitates, glancing worriedly at the still slightly pale Erwen.

"I'll be fine here, you dolt. Just take care of that robot and be careful," Erwen reassures Jak, gently punching him in the shoulder. Jak grins and nods, hurrying into the elevator. Activating the elevator, Jak waits nervously to arrive at the top.

"We've got this, right Jak?" Daxter asks, grinning nervously. Jak smirks, nodding confidently and raising his fist. Daxter grin shifts to confidence, bumping fists and relaxing Jak. Jak looks up as the elevator finally reaches the top. They can do this.


	16. Ottsel Endings Lead to New Beginnings

Upon reaching the top, Jak spots the Precursor robot firing a beam of blue eco at the silo.

"Holy yakow! We need to stop that robot!" Daxter insists. Jak breaks a crate open and absorbs a cluster of blue eco, activating the moving platform. Jak rides the platform to the silo, jumping off to collect a cluster of yellow eco, and firing the yellow eco at the beam. Once the beam is destroyed, the robot roars and prepares to fire of a large bomb.

"Get in the air, getintheair, GETINTHEAIR!" Daxter yells as Jak runs to another charge of blue eco and rushes over to the launch pad, leaping just in time to dodge the bomb. Once the duo lands, the Precursor robot fires multiple clusters of green eco into the dark eco, creating lurker-like creatures.

"As if we didn't beat up enough lurkers," Daxter muses, making Jak smile as he defeats the creatures. Enraged, the Precursor robot prepares to launch another bomb. Jak gets a blue eco charge and leaps into the air just as the bomb is launched, landing safely after the bomb detonates. The Precursor robot preps another cannon that Jak shoots at with yellow eco while dodging red eco bullets that explode into rings of energy.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE ON YOUR SHOULDER RIGHT NOW!" Daxter yells, bouncing on Jak's shoulder just as the cannon is destroyed. Jak, once again, gets a charge of blue eco and leaps on the launcher, dodging yet another bomb. When Jak lands, the Precursor robot prepares another, larger, cannon. Jak fires more yellow eco blasts at the charging cannon, barely dodging a large blast of yellow eco when the cannon discharges. Jak continues to fire at the cannon, until the cannon explodes.

"You just won't give up, will you?" Gol rasps through the robot's speakers, activating a large cannon-like weapon on the robot's back. However, the four towers around the silo suddenly light up with the four common eco types. The four eco towers then release beams of eco, colliding and forming light eco, just above Jak and Daxter's heads.

"Light eco! It does exist!" Gol gasps from inside the Precursor robot.

"They must not be allowed to get it!" Maia screeches.

"Light eco!" Daxter exclaims, "That could be the stuff to change me back!" Daxter then pauses in thought.

"Or… It might stop that robot," Daxter mumbles to himself, ignoring Jak's nodding.

"Stay furry, save the world. Choices," Daxter mentally weights, briefly, before scowling.

"Oooookay, fine! We'll save the world! But do it quickly before I change my mind!" Daxter snaps. He then looks down at Jak and grins. Jak returns the grin and runs to a white eco cluster, dodging the floating blue eco mines above him, and absorb it. Jak feels the eco course through him, more powerful that the other ecos individually.

"Do something!" Maia wails as Jak charges a white eco blast. Jak releases the energy at the robot, destroying the body. The head plummets into the partially open silo, into the dark eco inside.

"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghh-" Gol's yowl is cut off by the silo slamming shut over the head. Jak and Daxter return to the platform, felling the adrenaline leave their bodies. Half way back the two break out into a victory dance, high fiving and jumping excitedly.

"Well, it looks as if I may have been too hard on you, boys!" Samos calls as the platform returns to the top of the Citadel. The two jump off the platform and are quickly scooped into a hug by Erwen as Samos continues, "You DO have what it takes to be heroes!"

"I was so woooorriiiieeed!" Erwen elongates, spinning Jak and Daxter around before abruptly dropping them to hurry over to the edge and dry heave. Jak snickers at Erwen while Keira points out, "But Daxter… now we can't change you back."

"Don't worry about me, baby! You know what they say: Big things come in small packages," Daxter brags, getting an eye roll from Keira.

"Jak, you have an incredible talent for channeling eco!" The Blue Sage exclaims behind Jak, dragging the boy's attention away from his friends. The Blue Sage then calls to Samos, "Samos, you may have been right about this one, after all!"

"And Keira," The Red Sage begins, "without your help and ingenuity none of this would have been possible." He pauses and chuckles when Keira flushes and rubs the back of her neck. He then continues, "Perhaps we've found a new sage now that Gol and Maia are lost."

"Yes, Gol and Maia…" Samos trails off, not noticing Jak walk over to the still flustered Keira. He continues, "The dark eco probably destroyed them. Probably…"

"Way to be reassuring, Samos!" Erwen calls as she returns from the side, glancing uncomfortably at the shrinking distance between Jak and Keira.

"Aaaah, who cares?! Bring 'em on, we can take 'em again, right Jak?!" Daxter brags. When he gets no reply, Daxter repeats, "I said 'Right, Jak?'" Jak continues to ignore Daxter, leaning in to kiss Keira. However, Daxter jumps in the middle, exclaiming, "Woah! Put it on ice, big guy!" Jak pulls away from Keira, finally noticing a large door. He, followed by Erwen, Daxter, Samos, and Keira, approaches the door.

"Holy yakow! What would that be?" Samos wonders.

"Wow! It's an ancient Precursor door! It looks like it will only open if we fill all 100 holes with powercells!" Keira explains, eyeing the door carefully.

"Uh, we're heroes, remember? We have 100 powercells!" Daxter exclaims, sauntering up to the door. He stops, staring up at the height before turning and calling, "Hey Erwen! Wanna help?"

"Really?" Ewen sighs, walking over and pulling out some powercells, "Let's get this over with." Soon enough, all the holes were filled and the doors slowly open. Erwen lets out a low whistle while Daxter exclaims, "Wooooow! What is it?!"

"It's so beautiful…!" Keira gasps.

"By the Precursors…!" Samos quietly exclaims. Jak stares at it, a sick sense of deja-vu filling his gut that is overcome by excitement. He couldn't wait.

Happy belated Holidays and Happy early New Year! HAHAHAHAHAHahahahaha… *goes and sits in corner for authors making their readers wait too long* imsorry…

Anyway, this is the end of the story. However, the story will be updated as, while I was writing, I found that I didn't like the first three chapters (the only ones in Erwen's POV) and I don't really like the title. While I will focus on my other story and this story's sequeal, I will be editing and changing this story's first three chapters to be Jak's POV, to match the rest of the story. Please have patience with me and I'm glad that so many of you liked this story. Thank you all so much and I hope you will continue to enjoy my stories.


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